Is 'Spiritual but Not Religious' a Replacement for Religion or Just One Step on the Path between Religion and Non-religion

Bibliographic Data

ID3131909
AuthorsJoey Marshall (0000-0003-1757-4601, Department of Sociology, Purdue University, 700 W. State St., 47907, West Lafayette, IN, USA, corresponding author), Daniel V A Olson (0000-0001-5608-4950, Department of Sociology, Purdue University, 700 W. State St., 47907, West Lafayette, IN, USA)
Year2018
Volume60
Issue4
Pages503-518
Publication date2018-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Religious Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2211-4866 • E-ISSN: 0034-673X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s13644-018-0342-9
OpenAlexW2879924657
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited22

We analyze survey data collected from six universities in the United States, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (n = 6571). Survey respondents were asked to self-identify as "spiritual and religious," "spiritual but not religious," "religious but not spiritual" or "not religious or spiritual." Using a battery of items describing both religious and spiritual beliefs, we uncover which beliefs are most regularly shared by persons choosing each of the four self-identity labels. Even though American students are generally more religious than the Scandinavian students, we find that three of the four self-identity labels have quite similar meanings across cultural settings. Factor analyzing the belief items, we find two latent factors that we label as "religio-spirituality" and "anti-institutional spirituality." However, when plotted in a two-dimensional space defined by these two latent factors, respondents in each of the four self-identity categories mostly align along a single continuum from "spiritual and religious" to "not spiritual or religious." Nevertheless, the "spiritual but not religious" students stand out for their high scores on "anti-institutional spirituality

Aesthetics · Identity (music) · Religiosity · Religious experience · Religious identity · Religious orientation · Sociology · Spirituality · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology

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