Table of Contents
Variable:
The Christian Fundamentalist Belief Scale (CFBS) was designed to provide a unidimensional scale to measure a single construct-fundamentalism. Fundamental ism is defined within the Protestant tradition and focuses primarily on the authority and inerrancy of the Bible.
Description:
The CFBS is a twelve-item scale. Respondents are asked to rate each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from disagree strongly to agree strongly.
Practical Considerations:
The scale re quires no special expertise to administer, score, or interpret. It is appropriate for use with adolescents and adult Protestant samples.
Norms/Standardization:
The scale was ad ministered to 395 male and 471 female adolescents attending two nondenominational, state-maintained schools in Scotland. Means and standard deviations are reported for males and females separately for grade years 7 and 8 and 9 and 10. For years 7 and 8 the mean for males (N = 224) was 33.2 (SD = 9.7) and for females (N = 262) was 35.8 (SD = 8.0). For years 9 and 10 the mean for males (N = 171) was 29.4 (SD= 10.5) and for females (N = 209) was 34.1 (SD= 10.0). No normative data has been established among samples in the United States.
Reliability:
Based on the total sample of 866 students, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.92.
Validity:
Construct validity was explored by correlating the CFBS with three indices of Christian practice for the total sample. Significant correlations were found in all cases for frequency of chruch attendance (r .44), prayer (r = .50), and personal Bible reading (r = .47).
CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST BELIEF SCALE
Please Indicate your response to each item using the following scale:
- disagree strongly
- disagree
- neutral
- agree
- agree strongly
- I believe that God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh.
- I believe that the Bible is the word of God.
- I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin.
- I believe that Jesus will return to earth some day.
- I believe in hell.
- I believe that God judges what I do and say.
- I believe that Jesus died to save me.
- I believe that Jesus changed real water into real wine.
- I believe that Jesus walked on water.
- I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
- I believe that God is controlling every bit of our lives.
- I believe that Jesus really rose from the dead.
Location:
Gibson, H. M., & Francis, L. J. (1996). Measuring Christian fundamentalist belief among 11-15 year old adolescents in Scotland. In L. J. Francis & W. S. Campbell (Eds.), Research in religious edu cation (pp. 249-255). Leominister, UK: Fowler Wright.
Subsequent Research:
None