A Further Elaboration of the Post-Critical Belief Scale: Evidence for the Existence of Four Different Approaches to Religion in Flanders-Belgium

Abstract

To measure religious altitudes in a secularized context, Hutsbaut (1996; 1997) constructed the Post-Critical Belief scale, which was considered to contain three subscales (Orthodoxy, External Critique and Historical Relativism). In a first study it is demonstrated that the two bipolar dimensions of the model of Wulff (1991; 1997) (Inclusion vs. Exclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs. Symbolic) characterized the internal structure of the Post-Critical Belief scale. In a two-dimensional representation of the Post-Critical Belief scale, four instead of three subscales emerged (Orthodoxy, External Critique, Relativism and Second Naivete). Each of these subscales relates to one of the four quadrants in Wulff’s model. Based on these findings a revised Post-Critical Belief scale was constructed, in order to elaborate each of the four subscales. This revised version was put to the test in a second and third study. The internal structure was demonstrated to be stable and replicable. The consequences of the revision are illustrated via the relationships between the subscales and racism.