Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

The aim of the presentation is to introduce the Religious Identity Scale (RIS, Wieradzka-Pilarczyk, 2015), particularly to show how identity processes (i.e., exploration and commitment) have implications for understanding the relationship between national, ethnic, and religious identities. The current study examines Polish (N = 166, age 18-25) and immigrant Filipinx (N = 197, age 14-25) individuals. Separate cluster analyses were performed on each sample, and five groups of religious identities emerged for both Polish and Filipinx samples, with two clusters being similar between Polish and Filipinx groups. For the Polish sample, the largest identity group was an external religious identity, which is characterized by high commitment and in-depth exploration. The least common Polish religious identity was an indifferent religious identity which lacks commitment and interest in religion. For the Filipinx sample, an undifferentiated religious identity was most common, which may indicate some exploration or curiosity of religions without commitment. The smallest group was an externalized religious identity, characterized by a high degree of commitment with a low exploration of other religions. Comparisons between Polish and immigrant Filipinx religious identities indicate that an indifferent and internalized religious identity is common across these two countries. Variations in other religious identity groups may be due to differences in ethnic identity, immigration, and national values of the residing country. Future use of the RIS in other populations may extend the understanding of how religious identity operates in particular groups.