Religiosity and Neopagans: Testing the Use of FAITHS on Alternative Spirituality

Abstract

In the United States, Christianity’s customs, calendar, and behaviors have long influenced scholarship on what religion looks like. Is this template useful for studying other religions, such as Neopaganism? Neopaganism is a set of earth-based, often polytheistic or animistic religions that lack a central authority, organized structure, or accepted texts, and often accept diverse relationships as “families” beyond heteronormative monogamy. In this research, I explore whether measures of religiosity developed on a Christian template can be applied to Neopagans. I utilize Faith Activities In the Home Scale (FAITHS). I apply FAITHS in self-administered questionnaires to a sample of Neopagans from attendees at gatherings called “festivals”, asking about both individual and family experiences. My results indicate that FAITHS can be useful; however, the principal component analysis reveals different item scaling for Neopagans than in the original analysis. My results also support the individualistic nature of Neopaganism when comparing both individual and family-setting results.