Reassessing the bounded affinity theory of religion and the paranormal: formative and ongoing religious rituals

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on the bounded affinity theory – a theory emphasising the shared commonality of religious and paranormal experiences, data from a cross-section of Australian Facebook users were tested. Results reveal that religious Christian individuals who express a strong level of Christian religious practice display less paranormal belief and engage in less paranormal practice than Christian non-practitioners. Since the instrument used in a previous study by Joseph O. Baker, Christopher Bader and F. Carson Mencken may not have accurately measured the multi-dimensional content of paranormal belief (or separately, the physical and meta-physical constructs of paranormal experience) we reassessed the bounded affinity theory using an alternative instrument, with findings generally supporting the previous assumptions of the theory. Study results suggest that strong levels of religious practice significantly diminished belief in a variety of paranormal belief dimensions, and entities, but not all of them. This article addresses this issue applying a Durkheimian approach and provides a more detailed and nuanced support for the bounded affinity theory. It differentiates the beliefs gained from current church attendance (ongoing religious rituals) and past church attendance (formative rituals), which would have socialised Christian believers who are not currently churchgoers through their formative rituals.