Sources of weakened spiritual faith among Norwegian adults

ABSTRACT

Burgeoning research has documented important positive associations between religiousness/spirituality and physical and mental health. However, spiritual and religious beliefs can also be a locus of doubt and weakened faith in the form of spiritual struggles. Spiritual struggles are described as involving signs of spiritual disorientation, which involve conflict or distress grounded in religious or spiritual issues. The specific aim of this article is to describe sources of weakened faith in community residing adults who responded to a Norwegian population survey which also contained open–ended questions regarding experiences of weakened faith. Sixty participants described such sources in their own words. Our findings confirm that factors precipitating feelings of weakened faith are multifaceted and cover a wide array of sources. They are related to negative interactions concerning church life and church practice and specific relational conflicts with others. They also involve processes of doubt which contribute to changes in understanding and are grounded in observing injustice in the world, and include major life events including death and illness. Many of the struggles seem to involve an unsettling state of disillusionment and broken trust that arises from experiencing a gap between one’s assumptions and what occurred in reality.

KEYWORDS:

• Spiritual struggles
• weakened faith
• relational conflicts
• doubt
• life events
• disillusionment

Acknowledgement

Appreciation is extended to those who took the time to answer the postal survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Mary Kalfoss is Professor Emerita at VID Specialized University, Norway. Her publications focus on cross-cultural research, stress, mental health, coping, quality of life, ethics, and spiritual and existential issues among chronically ill and disabled groups, using both quantitative and qualitative methodology.

Marianne Nygaard is an Associate Professor at VID Specialized University, Norway. She researches in the field of diakonia, pastoral care, and the psychology of religion and health. Her particular interest is on healing experiences related to resources from Christian faith and practice.

Tormod Kleiven is a Professor at VID Specialized University, Norway His publications are focused on a diaconal scientific approach related to sexual misconduct/abuse, offensive attitudes and behavior, power, leadership, forgiveness, reconciliation, Christian Counseling, and healing experiences.

Marianne Nilsen is an Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. Her research interests include stress and coping, meaning-making, school psychology and special education, and psychology of religion. She is involved in research projects focusing on sexual health and breast cancer and children subjected to violence or sexual abuse.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.