Pluralism in the Mind: Patterns and Predictors of Identifying With Multiple World Religions
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
Published online on April 04, 2026
Abstract
["Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nClassic theories of religious pluralism theorized that religions compete for plausibility and acceptance based on the assumption that individuals can only have one religious identity or none. Religious identification in the United States has long been conceptualized as exclusive in nature, and surveys have in turn tended to only allow an individual to identify with a single religion. Recent research has questioned these assumptions, and there are theoretical reasons to expect that some individuals would be more likely to identify with multiple religions. The study presented here utilizes data from a probability survey of US adults in which respondents were allowed to select all the religions with which they identify to test hypotheses concerning patterns of multiple identification. A multinomial logistic regression model finds that childhood exposure to different world religions is positively associated with multiple identification relative to single identification, whereas self‐reported religiosity and political conservatism are negatively associated with multiple identification relative to single identification.\n"]