Spiritual Struggles of Nones and ‘Spiritual but Not Religious’ (SBNRs)

Spiritual but not religious? Evidence for two independent dispositions.

Some psychologists treat religious/spiritual beliefs as a unitary aspect of individual differences. But a distinction between mysticism and orthodox religion has been recognized by scholars as well as laypersons, and empirical studies of "ism" variables and of "spirituality" measures have yielded factors reflecting this distinction. Using a large sample of American adults, analyses demonstrate ...

Predictors of spiritual struggles: an exploratory study

Religious and spiRitual dimensions of tRaumatic Violence

Events of the past decade, including the terrorist attacks on September 11, clergy sexual abuse scandals, high-profile violence against women and minority groups, and ongoing combat in many areas of the world have focused attention on the prevalence and impact of traumatic violent events. Simultaneously, people’s frequent “turn to religion” (Schuster et al., 2007) after such events has raised m...

Spiritual but not Religious?: Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion

Spirituality" has often been framed in social science research as an alternative to organized "religion," implicitly or explicitly extending theoretical arguments about the privatization of religion. This article uses in-depth qualitative data from a religiously-diverse U.S. sample to argue that this either-or distinction not only fails to capture the empirical reality of American religion, but...

"Spiritual but not religious": Cognition, schizotypy, and conversion in alternative beliefs.

The spiritual but not religious (SBNR) are a growing population in secularizing societies. Yet, we know little about the underlying psychology of this group or their belief profile. Based on an individual difference approach, we address this knowledge gap by comparing SBNR with religious and non-religious participants. In a sample of Americans (n=1013), we find that the SBNR differ from non-rel...