A national-scale typology of orientations to religion poses new challenges for the cultural evolutionary study of religious groups. Issue 3 (2nd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bulbulia, Joseph A.; Troughton, Geoffrey; Highland, Benjamin R.; Sibley, Chris G.
• Is Part Of: Religion, brain & behavior. Volume 10:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 239
• Page End: 251
• Publication Date: 2020-07-02
• Subjects: Church -- God -- LPA -- New Zealand attitudes and values study -- religion -- schisms -- schismogenesis -- sect; Psychology and religion -- Periodicals; Religion and culture -- Periodicals; Psychology and religion; Religion and culture; Periodicals; 200.1
• DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2019.1678516
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2153-599X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Religious groups differ in theology, ritual, and modes of self-governance. However, the extent to which such differences capture the variation of religious individuals remains unclear. Latent Profile Analysis offers a powerful statistical method for obtaining typologies from the response profiles of religious individuals. Here, we draw on a national sample of religiously-identified New Zealanders ( N = 1484) and use LPA to obtain typologies for diversity in attitudes to religion as assessed by a combination of religious orientations, fundamentalism, and religious group narcissism/humility. The most parsimonious model recovers five types. To illustrate the importance of this descriptive typology, we evaluate the predictions of a church-sect theory against it. Consistent with church-sect theory, we find a greater density of intrinsic/exclusive types ( Fundamentrinsics and X-trinsics ) among informal/marginal religious groups and a greater density of extrinsic/inclusive types ( Moderinsics and Disaffected) among established/mainstream churches. However, the data also reveal an unexpected feature: about 50% of religious affiliates across both marginal and mainstream Christian groups present as either Questrinsics or Moderinsics . Collectively, our findings illustrate how rigorous descriptive statistical models may combine with national-scale data to evaluate classical theories of religious change, while also raising new explanatory challenges for future evolutionary scholars of religions.