Abstract

Researchers are noting that within the past two decades Americans are increasingly identifying as nonreligious and are reporting an awareness of the secularization of American life. Many individuals who no longer identify as religious and leave their religious communities, called religious disaffiliates, report being shunned and negatively judged by fellow church members, and research suggests that church members often make negative attributions towards religious disaffiliates. Within the context of the Seventh-day Adventist church, Ryan Bell’s recent public process of religious disaffiliation, the Year Without God, sparked a wide range of reactions from Christians nationwide. The current research aimed to add to an understanding of the influences of fundamentalist and quest religious orientations and social identity on church member reactions to religious disaffiliation, as well as the way religious orientation impacts church member social identity. Results showed that religious orientation affected church member sense of identification with ingroup and outgroup members, personal consideration of religious disaffiliation, and sense of importance of religion to identity, but had either nonsignificant or minimal impact on participation in various social roles within a church community. Results also showed that religious fundamentalism, lack of personal consideration of religious disaffiliation, and identification with ingroup members contribute to expressed negative attributions towards religious disaffiliates, and that religious orientation had a comparatively larger effect than social identity when making judgments towards religious disaffiliates. Of the current sample, 66% of respondents reported that they had at some point in their lives seriously considered leaving the Seventh-day Adventist church, reflecting the pertinence of developing an understanding of how church members react to religious disaffiliation. This research appears to be the first study to examine co-occurring fundamentalism and quest endorsement, and has shown that the interaction between religious fundamentalism and quest tends to show a negative moderating effect on behaviors, attitudes, and social identity.

LLU Discipline

Clinical Psychology

Department

Clinical Psychology

School

School of Behavioral Health

First Advisor

Kendal C. Boyd

Second Advisor

Jana K. Boyd

Third Advisor

David A. Vermeersch

Fourth Advisor

Zane G. Yi

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Year Degree Awarded

2020

Date (Title Page)

12-2018

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Church membership; Social groups; Religious fundamentalism; Religion and Psychology

Type

Dissertation

Page Count

xii, 138 p.

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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