Assessing Belief about the Bible: A Study among Anglican Laity

Abstract

Belief about the bible was examined among 404 Anglican churchgoers in England with summated scales measuring conservative-liberal beliefs about the bible, morality and religious exclusivity. Two other scales were developed to assess the extent to which beliefs were held dogmatically. The bible scale was unidimensional, internally reliable (Cronbach's alpha = .91) and closely correlated with scales measuring moral beliefs (r = .58, p <.01) and religious exclusivity (r =.73, p <.01). Scores were highest (most conservative) in Evangelical churches, intermediate in Broad churches and lowest in Anglo-catholic churches. Conservative belief in the bible was related negatively to education level in all traditions, and positively to attendance in Evangelical churches but not in other traditions. It was unrelated to either gender or age. Liberal belief in the bible was not related to lack of religiosity as measured by church attendance or bible-reading frequency. Dogmatically held belief was evident among both conservatives and liberals, and those who held the strongest beliefs in either direction tended to dismiss those who held alternative views. Belief about the bible can be assessed along a conservative-liberal construct that distinguishes liberal belief from unbelief.