Religiosity

Religiosity is a comprehensive sociological term used to refer to the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief. Another term that would work equally well, though is less often used, is religiousness. Numerous studies have explored the different components of human religiosity (Hill and Hood 1999). What most have found is that there are multiple dimensions (they often employ factor analysis). For instance, Cornwall, Albrecht, Cunningham and Pitcher (1986) identify six dimensions of religiosity based on the understanding that there are at least three components to religious behavior: knowing (cognition), feeling (affect), and doing (behavior). For each of these components of religiosity there were two cross classifications resulting in the six dimensions:

• Cognition
  • traditional orthodoxy
  • particularistic orthodoxy
• Affect
  • spiritual
  • church commitment
• Behavior
  • religious behavior
  • religious participation

Other researchers have found different dimensions, ranging generally from four to twelve components. What most measures of religiosity find is that there is at last some distinction between religious belief, religious practice, and spirituality.

For example, one can believe strongly in the truthfulness of The Bible (belief dimension), but never attend a church or even belong to an organized religion (practice dimension). Another example might be an individual who does not hold orthodox Christian beliefs (belief dimension), but does attend a charismatic worship service (practice dimension) in order to develop his/her sense of oneness with the divine (spirituality dimension). Finally, an individual could disavow all beliefs associated with organized religions (belief dimension), not affiliate with an organized religion or attend religious services (practice dimension), but believe strongly in a higher power and feel that their connection with that higher power is very meaningful (spirituality dimension). Keep in mind, however, that these are just explanatory examples of the broadest dimensions of religiosity and that they may not be reflected in specific religiosity measures.

It should also be noted that most dimensions of religiosity are correlated, meaning people who often attend church services (practice dimension) are also likely to score highly on the belief and spirituality dimensions. But, and this is the importance of delineating the different components of religiosity, individuals do not have to score high on all dimensions or low on all dimensions; their scores can vary by dimension.

References

• Cornwall, M., Albrecht, S.L., Cunningham, P.H., and Pitcher, B.L. 1986. The dimensions of religiosity: A conceptual model with an empirical test. Review of Religious Research, 27:226–244.
• Hill, Peter C. and Hood, Ralph W. Jr. 1999. Measures of Religiosity. Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press. ISBN 089135106X