Religious Doubt Scales

Abstract

The Religious Doubts (RD) Scale is a psychological scale primarily designed to measure the extent to which individuals experience skepticism or uncertainty regarding traditional religious teaching. The original version, developed by Bob Altemeyer (1988), consists of 10 items using a six-point Likert-type scale. This instrument assesses both **intellectual** and **experience-based** hesitations regarding religious belief and commitment. The scale demonstrated strong psychometric properties, particularly high internal consistency reliability, and showed expected negative correlations with measures of intrinsic religiosity and Christian orthodoxy.

The measurement of religious doubt was later broadened by the introduction of the **Doubt Vignettes** (Hunsberger, McKenzie, Pratt, & Pancer, 1993), which assess doubt arising from specific causal factors (e.g., conflicts with science, personal tragedy). Additionally, the **Secret Doubts Scale** (Altemeyer, 1988) uses a methodology based on the Hidden Observer phenomenon to uncover unshared or repressed doubts, particularly among individuals high in Right-Wing Authoritarianism.

Keywords

Religious Doubt, Skepticism, Christian Orthodoxy, Intrinsic Religious Orientation, Extrinsic Religious Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Psychometrics, Doubt Vignettes, Hidden Observer.

Authors

Bob Altemeyer, B. Hunsberger, B. McKenzie, M. Pratt, S. M. Pancer.

Purpose

The fundamental purpose of the original 10-item Religious Doubts (RD) Scale is to provide a quantifiable measure of an individual’s hesitancy concerning their religious tradition. It aims to capture the personal degree of uncertainty experienced by the subject, ranging from minor questioning to significant doubt regarding core religious tenets.

The subsequent research efforts expanded the measurement scope beyond a general score. The Doubt Vignettes were specifically created to assess the degree to which various root causes—such as scientific conflict, existential tragedy, or perceived religious hypocrisy—are **germane** to a particular case of doubt. The 20-item version (Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 1997) further refined the instrument by distinguishing between doubts previously experienced and doubts presently held.

Construct

The primary construct measured is **Religious Doubt**, which is conceptualized as a dispositional measure of skepticism concerning established religious belief systems. The scale assesses doubt across broad categories, including intellectual challenges (e.g., perceived contradictions in holy texts) and affective challenges (e.g., suffering or unanswered prayer).

A notable extension of this construct is the **Secret Doubts** methodology, which attempts to measure doubts that are not openly admitted or shared. This approach recognizes that overt measures of doubt may be insufficient, particularly for individuals who adhere strongly to authority or social norms, thereby measuring a layer of latent or subconscious religious uncertainty.

Validity

The Religious Doubts Scale exhibits strong **construct validity**, supported by a consistent pattern of correlations with related psychological and religious measures. As anticipated on theoretical grounds, higher RD scores correlated significantly and negatively with adherence to traditional religious commitment, including belief in Christian orthodoxy, intrinsic religious orientation, church attendance, and loyalty to childhood beliefs.

Conversely, RD scores correlated positively with **extrinsic religious orientation** (using religion for external benefits) and the prioritization of ethical behavior over holding specific dogmatic beliefs. This pattern suggests that the scale successfully differentiates between committed, deeply internalized belief systems and those characterized by skepticism or external religious motivation.

Reliability

The original 10-item RD Scale demonstrated commendable statistical properties, particularly concerning **internal consistency reliability**. In a sample comprising students and their parents, the scale proved reliable across both groups.

The internal consistency reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) for the student sample was reported as **.84**, and for the parent sample, it was **.86**. Furthermore, the average interitem correlations were reported as .32 and .36 for students and parents, respectively. These findings confirm that the items within the scale are highly coherent and consistently measure the same underlying dimension of religious doubt.

Factor Analysis

The source documentation does not provide details of a formal exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis for the original 10-item Religious Doubts Scale. However, the high internal consistency coefficients (.84 and .86) strongly imply that the 10 items cohere well and likely load onto a single dominant factor representing general religious doubt.

The subsequent development of the Doubt Vignettes, which categorize doubt into specific causal types (e.g., scientific, referential, ritual, event-generated), suggests that future factor analyses of the 20-item revised scale or the vignettes might reveal a more complex, multi-faceted structure of religious doubt.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological scale (Likert-type response format).

Format: Original RD Scale: 10 items. Response options range from 0 (none at all) to 5 (a great deal). Total score is the sum of the 10 items (range 0-50). The scale was later replaced by a 20-item version (Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 1997).

Language Available: English (Original development).

Population Group: General population, studied initially among university students and their parents.

Age Group: Late Adolescence through Adulthood.

Population Details: Initial validation was conducted on a sample of over 500 University of Manitoba psychology students and a comparably sized sample of their parents.

Test Methodology: Standard self-administered questionnaire. The **Secret Doubts** methodology utilizes the concept of the Hidden Observer (a hypnotic phenomenon) to bypass conscious self-censorship, providing an assessment of unacknowledged doubts, particularly concerning core religious tenets like God, judgment, and the afterlife.

Keywords

Religious Skepticism, Doubt Measurement, Intrinsic Religious Orientation, Extrinsic Religious Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Psychology of Religion, Altemeyer, Psychometrics.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Information Not Available in Source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Information Not Available in Source.

Correspondence Address: Information Not Available in Source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original Religious Doubts Scale (RD) was first published in 1988 by Bob Altemeyer in his book, **Enemies of Freedom: Understanding Right-Wing Authoritarianism**. The content of the scale items is copyrighted by Jossey-Bass, Inc. (1988). The Doubt Vignettes were published in 1993, and the revised 20-item scale was published in 1997.

Reference’s

Altemeyer, B. (1988). **Enemies of freedom: Understanding right-wing authoritarianism.** San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Altemeyer, B., & Hunsberger, B. (1997). **Changed lives.** Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press.

Hunsberger, B., McKenzie, B., Pratt, M., & Pancer, S. M. (1993). Religious doubt: A social psychological analysis. In M. Lynn & D. Moberg (Eds.), **Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion** (Vol. 5, pp. 27-51). Greenwich, CT: JAi Press.

Items of the RELIGIOUS DOUBTS SCALES

Appendix A The Religious Doubts Scale (Altemeyer, 1988)

Below are listed reasons that people sometimes give for doubting traditional religious teachings. Please indicate the extent to which you have had these doubts.

• 0 = None at all
• 1 = Only a little bit
• 2 = A mild amount
• 3 = A moderate amount
• 4 = Quite a bit
• 5 = A great deal

1. Doubts that religious writings, such as the Bible, could really be the word of God, because the writings seemed contradictory, irrational, or wrong.
2. Doubts about the existence of a benevolent, good God, caused by the suffering or death of someone I knew.
3. The feeling that I had not really developed my own ideas about religion, but instead was just a copy of other people’s ideas. (Or, if you were raised in no religion, that Christians, Jews, et cetera in general do not develop their own ideas, but instead are copies of other people’s ideas.)
4. The feeling that religion didn’t really make people better; people who went to church were still unkind, cheated on others, et cetera but pretended they were better.
5. The feeling that religion exists basically because people are afraid of death and want to believe life does not end then.
6. The feeling that today’s religions are based on a collection of superstitions from the past developed to “explain” things primitive people did not understand.
7. The feeling that religion makes people narrow-minded and intolerant and causes conflict between groups who believe different things.
8. A feeling that the overall religious teachings are contradictory or that they don’t make very much sense.
9. Resentment or rebelliousness when someone (say, a minister, priest, or rabbi) tried to tell me how I should behave or what I should believe. (If you were raised in no religion, how resentful would you have been had this happened?)
10. The feeling that religion makes people do stupid things and give up perfectly wholesome pleasures for no good reason.

Appendix B Doubt Vignettes (Hunsberger, McKenzie, Pratt, & Pancer, 1993)

1. Darwin’s theory of evolution has gained a good deal of acceptance in the scientific community. Can Darwin’s theory and the Bible’s story of creation both be accepted? (Scientific doubt)
2. Suppose that a very close friend, an excellent student, who has been enjoying fine health, has been killed in a car accident. How can you explain such an incident relative to God’s being a loving God? (Doubt generated by a specific event)
3. There are many different world religions, including Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Many of these are very old and established, having many believers, and all seem to claim having “the truth.” How do you deal with this, based on your religious beliefs? (Religion as self-deception)
4. The Bible says that “God is love” (John 4:7). Life often seems to make that a lie, especially if God is believed to be all-powerful. Natural disasters occur where thousands and millions die. The famine in Africa is an example of such massive disasters. Has this ever made you doubt that God is all-loving or that He exists at all? (Doubt generated by specific events)
5. Many modem biblical scholars believe that many of the recorded sayings of Jesus were spoken by others, not by Jesus. These scholars suggest that many of the events in Jesus’ life as recorded in the Gospels were probably myths used by the Gospel writers to increase the believability of what they wrote. Has any of this ever crossed your mind? (Referential doubt)
6. If often seems that prayers go unanswered. The words don’t go beyond the ceiling; they float into the air and are blown away by the merest breeze. Has this happened to you? (Violation of self-interest)
7. The Bible teaches that the second commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” History shows that in the name of Christ, many atrocities have been committed. The war between the Protestants and Catholics in Ireland might be an example of Christians’ hypocritically practicing their faith. Does this ever cause you to doubt Christianity? (Shortcomings of organized religion)
8. Some people question the basis of religious beliefs, considering them to be man’s creation to explain how we came to be, rather than the divine inspiration of God as the Bible would have us believe. To believe in God is thus really just a way of deceiving ourselves. (God as a projection)
9. Faith healers become well-known quickly, and reportedly “cure” serious physical illness. Often, however, such healings simply don’t occur. The healer is unsuccessful. Has this ever caused you to doubt that God can heal? (Ritual doubt)
10. The more that scientists discover about the universe, the more it might seem that God is not present. There seems to be no physical place for heaven or hell, and in fact, science seems to explain the universe without any need to bring up the concept of “God.” Has this ever crossed your mind? Have you ever doubted the existence of God? (Reactive and negativistic doubt)

Appendix C Secret Doubts Scale (Altemeyer, 1988)

INSTRUCTIONS

You may recall the lecture on hypnosis dealing with Hilgard’s research on the “Hidden Observer.” Suppose there is a Hidden Observer in you, which knows your every thought and deed, but which only speaks when it is safe to do so, and when directly spoken to. This question is for your Hidden Observer: Does this person (that is, you) have doubts that (s)he was created by an Almighty God who will judge each person and take some into heaven for eternity while casting others into hell forever?

Choose one of the following answers:

• Yes, (s)he has secret doubts which (s)he has kept strictly to herself/himself that this is really true.
• Yes, (s)he has such doubts, but others (such as parents and friends) know (s)he has these doubts.
• No, (s)he totally believes this, and has no doubts whatsoever.
• Yes, in fact (s)he openly says (s)he does not believe there is a God or an afterlife, but (s)he has some secret worries there might be.
• Yes, in fact (s)he openly says (s)he does not believe there is a God or an afterlife, and (s)he has no doubts about this whatsoever. (emphasis in original)