THE RELIGIOUS BELIEF SCALE

Abstract

The Religious Belief Scale (RBS) is a 41-item, true-false inventory developed by Martin and Nichols (1962) to quantify the level of Judeo-Christian religious conviction in individuals. The scale was constructed by combining existing items from established measures with new content, initially resulting in a pool of 50 statements. Nine items were subsequently eliminated based on nonsignificant correlations with the total score in a preliminary sample of 80 subjects.

The final RBS measures subjects’ acceptance of core religious tenets, including belief in the divinity of Jesus, the efficacy of prayer, the existence of an afterlife, and the necessity of the church. The scale is scored by summing points, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 41. Subjects respond using a dichotomous “true” or “false” format, with 18 items requiring reverse scoring. Higher scores suggest greater acceptance of religious teachings and a positive valuing of religion (Shaw & Wright, 1967).

Keywords

Religious Belief Scale, RBS, Religiosity, Judeo-Christian, Religious Acceptance, Psychometric Scale, Attitude Measurement, Martin and Nichols.

Authors

C. Martin, R. C. Nichols

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Religious Belief Scale was to provide a focused, psychometrically sound measure targeting specific beliefs central to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Martin and Nichols (1962) intended to develop an instrument whose content centered on explicit doctrinal affirmations, thereby measuring acceptance of religious teachings rather than mere religious practices.

The scale was specifically designed to investigate the relationship between religious conviction and various personality and demographic correlates. It aims to quantify the degree to which an individual positively values religion and accepts its foundational tenets regarding God, the Bible, the afterlife, and the essential role of the church and faith in a good life (Shaw & Wright, 1967).

Construct

The construct measured by the RBS is defined as Judeo-Christian Religious Belief, operationalized through the acceptance and positive valuing of fundamental religious tenets. The content domain is highly homogenous and centers on specific faith commitments, as detailed by the authors:

• Belief in the Bible as the inspired Word of God.
• Belief in the efficacy of prayer and the existence of a personal, present God.
• Acceptance of the divinity of Jesus and the reality of an afterlife.
• Valuing the church and religion as necessary elements for leading a good life.

Validity

The initial development emphasized face validity in item selection, ensuring the statements consistently reflected common Judeo-Christian religious teachings. The review of the scale items suggested considerable homogeneity in content, a characteristic indirectly reinforced by the high internal reliability coefficient reported. However, the scale lacks extensive empirical confirmation regarding its content or construct validity.

Martin and Nichols (1962) reported significant positive correlations between RBS scores and several demographic variables, including having a rural background, female gender, formal church membership, and consistent church attendance, which lends support to its criterion-related validity. Importantly, and contrary to theoretical predictions, the RBS was also found to be significantly positively correlated with the Authoritarianism Scale. Furthermore, while there was no significant linear relationship with the level of religious information, the authors noted a curvilinear relationship, where subjects with moderate knowledge (biblical and general religious) obtained the highest RBS scores.

Reliability

Internal consistency reliability for the RBS was established using a subgroup of the original sample (N = 83). Martin and Nichols (1962) reported a remarkably high Kuder-Richardson reliability coefficient of .95. This coefficient suggests that the 41 items within the scale measure the same underlying construct with a high degree of precision.

Despite this strong initial finding, published research utilizing the RBS has been extremely limited since its introduction. Consequently, there has been no subsequent confirmation or replication of the scale’s reliability utilizing independent samples or alternative psychometric methods.

Factor Analysis

The original research by Martin and Nichols (1962) focused on item-total correlations and content homogeneity during scale refinement but did not include a formal factor analysis of the resulting 41 items. The development process suggests that the scale was intended to be a unidimensional measure of global Judeo-Christian belief.

The exceptionally high Kuder-Richardson reliability coefficient of .95 strongly supports the assumption of unidimensionality. However, without empirical exploration through factor analytic techniques, the precise underlying factor structure of the Religious Belief Scale cannot be conclusively determined.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report attitude inventory

Format: 41 True/False items, Paper-and-pencil

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: General population (Developed for testing correlates of religiosity)

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (Initially administered to college students)

Population Details: The initial data were gathered from a convenience sample of 163 undergraduate college students (59 male, 104 female) in a group testing environment. Unfortunately, the authors neglected to report crucial descriptive statistics, such as the sample mean and standard deviation, meaning that no official normative data currently exist for the RBS.

Test Methodology: The measure is straightforward, requiring no special examiner skill for administration or scoring. Instructions are provided directly on the test form, directing subjects to respond “true” or “false” to every item. The total score, ranging from 0 to 41, is calculated by summing points, with 18 items requiring reverse scoring.

Keywords

Attitude Scale, Psychological Measurement, Christian Belief, Religious Tenets, Religiosity, Psychometrics, Authoritarianism Scale, Kuder-Richardson.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1962

Permissions/Fee: Information regarding current copyright, permissions, and associated fees is not available in the original source material. Since the scale was published in the Journal of Social Psychology in 1962, researchers should consult the journal publisher for specific usage guidelines regarding the reproduction and use of the scale items.

Reference’s

• Martin, C., & Nichols, R. C. (1962). Personality and religious belief. Journal of Social Psychology, 56, 3-8.
• Shaw, M. E., & Wright, J. M. (1967). Scales for the measurement of attitudes. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Subsequent Research: A review of the literature revealed no subsequent published research using the RBS.

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Items of the THE RELIGIOUS BELIEF SCALE

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Instructions: If you agree with a statement or feel that it is true about you or true to the best of your knowledge, answer “true.” If you disagree with a statement or feel that it is not true about you or not true to the best of your knowledge, answer “false.” Be sure to answer either true or false for every statement, even if you have to guess at some.

1. Religious faith is better than logic for solving life’s important problems.
2. *I don’t think it makes any difference if one is a Christian as long as he has good will for others.
3. I often think that I couldn’t do without my religion.
4. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
5. *I think there were many men in history as great as Jesus.
6. God is constantly with us.
7. *Christ’s simple message of concern for your fellow man has been twisted by superstitious mysticism.
8. I attend church to worship God with devotion and to gain guidance for everyday life.
9. *A person can be happy and enjoy life without believing in God.
10. I believe that eternal life is a gift of God to those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
11. *Man can solve all his important problems without help from a Supreme Being.
12. It is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not because of our own works that we are made righteous before God.
13. *I don’t think prayers go above the ceiling of the room in which they are uttered.
14. I am sometimes very conscious of the presence of God.
15. *”God” is an abstract concept roughly equivalent to the concept of “Nature.”
16. *I think that the Bible is full of errors, misconceptions, and contradictions.
17. If I were without my religion and my understanding of God, I would have little left in life.
18. I think God is revealed in every person who feels and acts unselfishly.
19. I believe that men working and thinking together can build a just society without superhuman help.
20. I believe that God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
21. *The Bible in many ways has held back and retarded human progress.
22. I think of God as present wherever there is genuine beauty.
23. *I am not a religious person.
24. *Science makes me doubt that man has a soul.
25. When in doubt, it is best to stop and ask God what to do.
26. *Christ was not divine, but his teachings and the example set by his life are important.
27. I believe that following the gospel of Christ is the only way for mankind to be saved.
28. God exists in all of us.
29. I think that God’s purposes are best shown by Christ.
30. God created man separate and distinct from the animals.
31. *I can take religion or leave it.
32. I think that Jesus was born of a virgin.
33. *I think that God may possibly have created the world, but he does not show Himself or interfere in it today.
34. *I think there is no life after death.
35. *As science advances, religion will fade out in importance and eventually no religion will be needed.
36. God is very real to me.
37. *A person should follow his own conscience-not prayer-in deciding right and wrong.
38. I believe there is a Heaven and a Hell.
39. Because of His presence we can know that God exists.
40. Religion gives meaning to my life.
41. *I don’t believe that history reveals the working out of God’s plan.

Note: Items marked with an asterisk (*) are negative and must be reversed for purposes of scoring.