Attitude towards Christianity and New Age beliefs among undergraduate students in Slovenia: a study in implicit religion

Abstract

This study examines two conflicting hypotheses regarding the association between traditional religiosity and new age belief: the “worldview hypothesis” suggesting a positive association between these two sets of beliefs; and the “functional alternative hypothesis” suggesting a negative association between these two sets of beliefs. A sample of 1209 undergraduate students attending the University of Maribor, Slovenia, completed the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity as a measure of traditional religiosity and the Lavrič Scale of New Age Belief, alongside a measure of frequency of church attendance. The data demonstrated a positive correlation between attitude towards Christianity and new age belief, even after taking into account different levels of church attendance. These findings support the worldview hypotheses in favour of the functional alternative hypothesis.

Keywords:

• implicit religion
• psychology
• new age
• worldview hypothesis
• functional alternative hypothesis

Notes

Note: *These negative items were reverse scored.

Note: ***=p < 0.001.