Religiosity is difficult to define, but different scholars have seen this concept as broadly about religious orientations and involvement. It includes experiential, ritualistic, ideological, intellectual, consequential, creedal, communal, doctrinal, moral, and cultural dimensions. Sociologists of religion have observed that the people's beliefs, sense of belonging, and behavior often are not congruent with an individual's actual religious beliefs since there is much diversity in how one can be religious or not. Multiple problems exist in measuring religiosity. For instance, variables such as church attendance produce different results when different methods are used such as traditional surveys vs time use surveys.
Diversity in an individuals' beliefs, affiliations, and behaviors
Decades of anthropological, sociological, and psychological research have established that "religious congruence" is actually rare. People’s religious ideas are fragmented, loosely connected, and context-dependent; like in all other domains of culture and in life. The beliefs, affiliations, and behaviors of any individual are complex activities that have many sources including culture. As examples of religious incongruence he notes, "Observant Jews may not believe what they say in their Sabbath prayers. Christian ministers may not believe in God. And people who regularly dance for rain don’t do it in the dry season." Demographic studies often show wide diversity of religious beliefs, belonging, and practices in both religious and non-religious populations. For instance, out of Americans who are not religious and not seeking religion: 68% believe in God, 12% are atheists, 17% are agnostics; also, in terms of self-identification of religiosity 18% consider themselves religious, 37% consider themselves as spiritual but not religious, and 42% considers themselves as neither spiritual nor religious; and 21% pray every day and 24% pray once a month. Global studies on religion also show diversity. File:Importance of Religion in the World.svg|thumb|550px|Results of a 2008/2009 Gallup poll on whether respondents said that religion was "important in daily life."
Components
Numerous studies have explored the different components of human religiosity. What most have found is that there are multiple dimensions. For instance, Cornwall, Albrecht, Cunningham and Pitcher identify six dimensions of religiosity based on the understanding that there are at least three components to religious behavior: knowing, feeling, and doing. For each of these components of religiosity, there were two cross classifications resulting in the six dimensions:
Other researchers have found different dimensions, ranging generally from four to twelve components. What most measures of religiosity find is that there is at least some distinction between religious doctrine, religious practice, and spirituality. For example, one can accept the truthfulness of the Bible, but never attend a church or even belong to an organized religion. Another example is an individual who does not hold orthodox Christian doctrines, but does attend a charismaticworship service in order to develop his/her sense of oneness with the divine. An individual could disavow all doctrines associated with organized religions, not affiliate with an organized religion or attend religious services, and at the same time be strongly committed to a higher power and feel that the connection with that higher power is ultimately relevant. These are explanatory examples of the broadest dimensions of religiosity and may not be reflected in specific religiosity measures. Most dimensions of religiosity are correlated, meaning people who often attend church services are also likely to score highly on the belief and spirituality dimensions. But individuals do not have to score high on all dimensions or low on all dimensions; their scores can vary by dimension. Sociologists have differed over the exact number of components of religiosity. Charles Glock's five-dimensional approach was among the first of its kind in the field of sociology of religion. Other sociologists adapted Glock's list to include additional components.
The contributions of genes and environment to religiosity have been quantified in studies of twins and sociological studies of welfare, availability, and legal regulations . Koenig et al. report that the contribution of genes to variation in religiosity increases from 12% to 44% and the contribution of shared effects decreases from 56% to 18% between adolescence and adulthood. A market-based theory of religious choice and governmental regulation of religion have been the dominant theories used to explain variations of religiosity between societies. However, Gill and Lundsgaarde documented a much stronger correlation between welfare state spending and religiosity. See "Welfare spending vs Church attendance" diagram on the right.
Just-world hypothesis
Studies have found belief in a just world to be correlated with aspects of religiousness.
