SBNR Identity: The Role of Impersonal God Representations, Individualistic Spirituality, and Dissimilarity With Religious Groups

ABSTRACT

We conducted two studies investigating the extent to which self-identification as Spiritual but not Religious (SBNR) was associated with (H1) the development of idiosyncratic religious beliefs and exposure to religious diversity and/or (H2) negative attitudes toward organized religion and being hurt by members of a religious group. In Study 1, SBNRs scored higher than religious and nonreligious participants on belief in God as an impersonal cosmic force (but not as a personal being) and individualistic spirituality. Although SBNRs had positive attitudes toward religion, they were less positive than those identifying as religious. Exposure to religious diversity and hurt by religious groups were not significant predictors of SBNR. We replicated these results in Study 2 using a multi-item measure of God representations and also found that SBNRs’ attitudes toward religion were predicted by a perceived dissimilarity with religious groups over and above individualism, secular group participation, perceptions of Christianity as too structured, and liberalism.

Notes

^1. We also assessed attitudes toward Buddhists, pagans, and Native American Traditionalists. The results are not reported here due to space considerations but, generally, SBNRs reported relatively positive attitudes toward these groups.

^2. We appreciate a reviewer’s query regarding the association between our novel measure of Individualistic Spirituality (IS) and Quest. Conceptually, the items in our IS measure were designed to assess an openness to seeking one’s own version of spiritual truth, whereas the Quest items refer to spiritual seeking but also to doubts and uncertainty about one’s beliefs. Although we did not assess Quest in the present research, in two previous unpublished studies we have found that Quest and the IS are moderately correlated, r(456) = .496 and r(341) = .426. When the data were subjected to logistic regression analyses investigating the ability of Quest, IS, and Mystical God representations to predict SBNR identity, IS was the only significant predictor in both studies (ps < .001), suggesting that IS contributes uniquely to an SBNR identity over and above Quest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation (grant no. 52153).