Is ‘Spiritual But Not Religious' a Replacement for Religion or Just One Step on the Path Between Religion and Non-religion?

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 batt...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Marshall, Joey (Author) ; Olson, Daniel V. 1953- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage Publications [2018]
In: Review of religious research
Year: 2018, Volume: 60, Issue: 4, Pages: 503-518
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Scandinavia / USA / Spirituality / Religiosity / SBNR
IxTheo Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
KBE Northern Europe; Scandinavia
KBQ North America
Further subjects:B Spirituality
B spiritual but not religious
B SBNR
B Europe
B Scandinavia
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary: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.”
ISSN:2211-4866
Contains:Enthalten in: Review of religious research
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s13644-018-0342-9