Description

The Church-Sect Scale is a psychometric tool designed to measure the extent to which a religious group or community incorporates characteristics that position it on the continuum between a church and a sect. This scale examines various aspects of religious organization and functioning, such as structure, theology, social participation, and religious practices, to understand the nature and dynamics of the religious group.

Objective

The main objectives of the Church-Sect Scale are:
Assessment of Religious Groups: To document the characteristics that place a religious group at some point between a church and a sect.
Understanding Social Structure and Theology: To examine how the social structure and theology of the religious group affect its functioning and identity.
Exploring Religious Participation: To investigate the nature of religious participation and commitment of the members of the religious group.
Supporting Research and Pastoral Interventions: To provide data that can be used to develop research programs and pastoral interventions aimed at improving the functioning and unity of the religious group.

Analysis

The analysis of data collected through the Church-Sect Scale includes the following steps:
Data Collection: Members of the religious group complete a questionnaire that includes questions about the group’s structure, theology, participation, and religious practices.
Quantitative Evaluation: Responses are analyzed statistically using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and correlation analyses to understand the dominant trends and relationships.
Interpretation of Results: The results are interpreted to identify the dominant trends and relationships between the characteristics of the religious group and its placement on the church-sect axis.
Group Comparison: Differences in characteristics and functioning are examined across different religious groups.

Calibration

The calibration of the Church-Sect Scale includes:
Ensuring Reliability: Using reliability indicators, such as Cronbach’s alpha, to assess the internal consistency of the responses.
Ensuring Validity: Confirming the validity of the tool through confirmatory factor analysis and other assessment methods.
Repeat Testing: Conducting repeat tests with different groups of participants to confirm the reliability and validity of the tool in various contexts.

References

Troeltsch, E. (1931). The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches. Westminster John Knox Press.
Niebuhr, H. R. (1929). The Social Sources of Denominationalism. Henry Holt and Company.
Yinger, J. M. (1946). Religion in the Struggle for Power: A Study in the Sociology of Religion. Duke University Press.
Becker, H. (1932). Systematic Sociology. John Wiley & Sons.
Wilson, B. R. (1970). Religious Sects: A Sociological Study. McGraw-Hill.