Religiousness: An Inter-Disciplinary, Multi-Demographical and Multi-Regional Study

Abstract

This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an important part in their family life, their wellness, their work performance and in their relationships with others. The overall participation in religious activities, including the involvement in Religious leadership roles, the frequency of Religious participation, as well as the extent of Religious expression, measured high. Religiousness (expressed as the aggregate score of the two factors) measured high, which is an indication that the participants generally believed in a higher power and had positive attitudes towards institutional/religion-specific practices. The participants also indicated that they valued religion as an important aspect of their lives. No meaningful inferences could be made in terms of the impact of race, gender, age and the specific religion on Religiousness