Religious doubt and health: exploring the potential dark side of religion

Sociology of Religion, Spring, 2004 by Neal Krause, Keith M. Wulff

A growing number of studies suggest that involvement in religion appears to have health-protective as well as health-enhancing effects (Koening, McCullough and Larson 2001). However, critics of this work argue that some researchers are overzealous in their desire to establish a firm relationship between these constructs, and that claims for the potential health-related benefits of religion are premature (Sloan, Bagiella and Powell 1999). These criticisms are not entirely unfounded because research reveals that the correlation between religion and health is often fairly modest. This may be due to a number of factors, including the use of underdeveloped theoretical models, reliance on crude measures of religion (e.g., the frequency of church attendance only), and the use of survey data that contain a significant amount of measurement error. But there may be factors beyond these that play an even greater role in reducing the magnitude of the relationship between religion and health. More specifically, several studies suggest that the experiences some individuals have with religion are not always positive and, as a result, there may be a downside as well as an upside to religion. This research is important because it suggests that instead of promoting health and well-being, exposure to the negative aspects of religion may erode physical and mental health. So far, evidence of the potentially deleterious effects of religion has emerged in three areas: Negative interaction with fellow church members (Krause, Ellison and Wulff 1998), negative religious coping responses (Pargament 1997), and the focus of the present study--religious doubt (Krause, Ingersoll-Dayton, Ellison and Wulff 1999).

Religious doubt is defined as, "... a feeling of uncertainty toward, and a questioning of, religious teachings and beliefs" (Hunsberger, McKenzie, Pratt and Pancer 1993:28). Research on religious doubt is important because several studies indicate it is associated with greater psychological distress (Krause et al. 1999; but see Hunsberger, Pratt and Pancer 2002). However, a number of issues involving religious doubt have yet to be examined. Three are addressed in the analyses that follow. First, even though religious doubt may be associated with mental health problems (especially depressive symptoms--Krause et al. 1999), there do not appear to be any studies that examine whether religious doubt is also associated with physical health status. Consequently, the first goal of the present study is to evaluate the relationship between religious doubt and physical, as well as mental health. Second, it is not clear if religious doubt affects all individuals in the same way. A central premise in this study is that doubt is more likely to be a problem for people who are more deeply involved in religion. Although there are a number of ways to measure religious involvement, one approach involves assessing whether people occupy formal roles in the church (e.g., they are a member of a church governing board). In the analyses that follow, we test the proposition that religious doubt will have a more deleterious effect on the health and well-being of individuals who occupy formal roles in the church, than on rank-and-file members who do not have a formal church role. The third issue that will be addressed in this study has to do with the samples that are used in research on religious doubt. The majority of these studies focus solely on high school students (Hunsberger, Alisat, Pancer and Pratt 1996) and adolescents (Kooistra and Pargament 1999). As a result, it is difficult to know if the findings from this work can be generalized to the wider adult population. We meet this problem head-on by analyzing data provided by a nationwide sample of people of all ages.

The discussion that follows is divided into three main sections. The theoretical underpinnings of this study are developed in greater detail in the first section. Then, following this, the study sample and measures are introduced. Finally, the results are presented and discussed.

RELIGIOUS DOUBT, HEALTH, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Exploring the Dual Nature of Religious Doubt

Some researchers have been unable to find a statistically significant relationship between religious doubt and psychological distress (Hunsberger et al. 2002). Although there are likely to be a number of reasons for this, one explanation arises from the fact that a number of theologians and investigators believe that religious doubt is not inherently bad in the first place. In fact, these scholars maintain that having doubts about religion lies at the very heart of living a religious life, and that it is not possible to be deeply religious without having doubts about one's faith. This perspective is captured in the work of Tillich, who was a well-known Protestant theologian. Tillich (1957:57) argued that, "... doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith." Similar views are expressed in the classic work of Allport (1950:73), who maintained that, "... the mature religious sentiment is ordinarily fashioned in the workshop of doubt." Finally, and perhaps most important, Batson, Schoenrade and Ventis' (1993) work on religious quest is based, in part, on the notion that doubt is beneficial and ultimately leads to a deeper and more meaningful faith. This is evident in the following item that was taken from their widely-used quest scale, "It might be said that I value my religious doubts and uncertainties" (Batson et al. 1993:171).