The Religious, the Paranormal, and Church Attendance: A Response to Orenstein

Orenstein's (2002) "JSSR" article "Religion and Paranormal Belief" uses Reginald Bibby's 1995 Project Canada data to argue that religious and paranormal belief are positively correlated, but that church attendance and paranormal belief are negatively correlated. In this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion 2003-06, Vol.42 (2), p.299-303
Main Author: Mckinnon, Andrew M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
A. Orenstein
Astrology
Beliefs
Canada
Christianity
Church Attendance
Contemporary period
Expected values
General subjects
History and sciences of religions
Modeling
Parapsychology
Parascience
Religion
Religious Beliefs
Religious organizations
Religious practice
Religious studies
Research Notes
Scientific belief
Sociological studies
Sociology of religion
Superstition
Values
Variable coefficients
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Summary:Orenstein's (2002) "JSSR" article "Religion and Paranormal Belief" uses Reginald Bibby's 1995 Project Canada data to argue that religious and paranormal belief are positively correlated, but that church attendance and paranormal belief are negatively correlated. In this response, I use the same data to show that while his basic model is true, we also need to consider the interaction between church attendance and religious belief. Religious attendance conditions the effect of religious beliefs on paranormal beliefs in an important fashion. I find that religious and paranormal belief are positively correlated, but only for those who do not attend church regularly.
ISSN:0021-8294
1468-5906
DOI:10.1111/1468-5906.00181