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Der Rückgang der christlichen Religiosität in Europa ist vielfach empirisch belegt. Umstritten ist jedoch, ob es sich um einen Rückgang des Glaubens handelt oder ob Religion einen Formwandel erfährt. Pascal Siegers untersucht auf Basis von Daten der Europäischen Wertestudie die Verbreitung spiritueller Glaubensformen in Europa. Seine Analysen machen deutlich, dass alternative Spiritualitäten zur größten religiösen Minderheit geworden sind. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Menschen dann einen spirituellen Glauben wählen, wenn ein Konflikt zwischen Selbstverwirklichungswerten und der Moral der Kirchen vorliegt.

Abstract
Spirituality is a contentious concept in the social sciences. This is above all due to the increasing number of different definitions of spirituality that are used in the field. Some scholars argue that given this heterogeneity, spirituality is not an analytic concept. Scholars use the concept to denote forms of belief that are not part of conventional religiosity. Therefore, spirituality refers to transformations of religion in modern societies. This paper shows that spirituality is generally defined in relation to religion or religiosity. Thus, different concepts of spirituality can be distinguished according to the way they draw the boundaries between religiosity and spirituality. This approach reveals the most important communalities and differences of different perspectives on spirituality as a scientific concept which allows a better assessment of empirical results from research on spirituality.

Comparing frequency of belief in reincarnation from different international survey projects (RAMP, EVS, ISSP) reveals differences of about 15 to 20 percent depending on the specific question format. If single binary questions are used, then belief in reincarnation is more often reported than if a forced-choice question is used which offers respondents alternatives to belief in reincarnation (e.g. resurrection). One possible explanation for this result is that respondents confuse reincarnation and resurrection if a binary item is used. If this is true, then empirical studies on religious individualization would be flawed because they use belief in reincarnation as an indicator for holistic beliefs such as New Age spirituality, post-Christian spirituality and subjective life spirituality.
Using a two stage question on beliefs about the afterlife that combines a binary rating procedure (1. stage) with a reduced forced-choice design (2. stage) allows analysis of whether respondents systematically confuse reincarnation and resurrection. Moreover, analysing associations with other variables on religious beliefs allows testing if consistent patterns of belief emerge.
The data provide little evidence that respondents confuse resurrection and reincarnation. Rather, they reveal a high level of uncertainty about belief in the afterlife. To conclude, the paper suggests some recommendations on how belief in reincarnation should be used as an indicator for holistic beliefs.

Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the political and scholarly attention on conspiracy theories. Among other predictors, religious and spiritual influences on conspiracy beliefs have been widely discussed in the literature. We suggest analyzing the relationship between religion and spirituality on the one hand and conspiracy beliefs on the other hand from the perspective of religious information processing. Based on the Post-Critical Beliefs Scale (PCBS), we argue that literal interpretations of religious information are positively associated with conspiracy beliefs. Furthermore, we assume that individual differences in analytic cognitive style account for the relationship between religious attitudes, spirituality, and conspiracism. Using a quota sample of German adults, we find that literal interpretations of religious content positively correlate with conspiracy beliefs for the literal affirmation of transcendence (e.g., orthodoxy) and the literal disaffirmation of transcendence (e.g., atheism). These findings suggest that religious information processing is related to conspiracy beliefs for religious and nonreligious individuals. Moreover, our results show a stable association between holistic spirituality and conspiracy beliefs. The relationships between different types of religious attitudes, spirituality, and conspiracy beliefs hold, even after accounting for analytic (versus intuitive) thinking. The implications for the study of religious attitudes and conspiracy beliefs are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the political and scholarly attention on conspiracy theories. Among other predictors, religious and spiritual influences on conspiracy beliefs have been widely discussed in the literature. We suggest analyzing the relationship between religion and spirituality on the one hand and conspiracy beliefs on the other hand from the perspective of religious information processing. Based on the Post-Critical Beliefs Scale (PCBS), we argue that literal interpretations of religious information are positively associated with conspiracy beliefs. Furthermore, we assume that individual differences in analytic cognitive style account for the relationship between religious attitudes, spirituality, and conspiracism. Using a quota sample of German adults, we find that literal interpretations of religious content positively correlate with conspiracy beliefs for the literal affirmation of transcendence (e.g., orthodoxy) and the literal disaffirmation of transcendence (e.g., atheism). These findings suggest that religious information processing is related to conspiracy beliefs for religious and nonreligious individuals. Moreover, our results show a stable association between holistic spirituality and conspiracy beliefs. The relationships between different types of religious attitudes, spirituality, and conspiracy beliefs hold, even after accounting for analytic (versus intuitive) thinking. The implications for the study of religious attitudes and conspiracy beliefs are discussed.

Medical treatments at the beginning and end of human life are highly contested in public discourse. Our study reveals factors shaping the acceptance of social egg freezing (or oocyte cryopreservation) as an assisted reproduction technology (ART) in the general public. Based on the theory of moral contextualism and the literature on medical ethics, we deduce potential factors influencing attitudes toward cryopreservation (for example, the number of oocytes used or the age up to which women plan to use the oocytes). The influence of these factors on individual attitudes is modeled using a factorial design embedded into a web survey. The results show that factors associated with potential harm to the children decrease acceptance of cryopreservation, whereas factors associated with potential harm to the women increase acceptance. The strongest effect has the age at which women plan to use the preserved oocytes.

Intro -- Inhaltsverzeichnis -- Herausgeber- und Autorenverzeichnis -- Einleitung: ALLBUS, IEDI und die Wiederaufnahme der Reihe "Blickpunkt Gesellschaft" -- Zusammenfassung -- Literatur -- Verschwimmende Grenzen? Christliche und alternative Religiosität in Deutschland zwischen 2002 und 2012 -- Zusammenfassung -- 1 Untersuchungsplan -- 1.1 Konzepte -- 1.2 Entwicklungshypothesen -- 1.3 Zusammenhangshypothesen -- 1.4 Daten -- 2 Ergebnisse -- 2.1 Gesamtbevölkerung: Entwicklungen und Verteilungen -- 2.2 Alterskohorten: Entwicklungen -- 2.3 Zusammenhangshypothesen -- 2.4 Regressionen -- 3 Schluss: Alternative als neue Religionen? -- Literatur -- Zu Verbreitung und sozialen Einflussfaktoren von Paraglaube in West- und Ostdeutschland 2002-2012. Empirische Analysen von ALLBUS-Daten -- Zusammenfassung -- 1 Einleitung -- 2 Paraglaube: Begriffe und Forschungsstand -- 2.1 Begriffe -- 2.2 Forschungsstand und Orientierungshypothesen -- 3 Paraglaube im ALLBUS und methodisches Vorgehen -- 4 Struktur und Verbreitung von Paraglaube in Deutschland -- 5 Determinanten von Paraglaube im West-Ost- und Zeitvergleich -- 6 Fazit -- Anhang -- Literatur -- "Nun sag, wie hast du's mit der Religion?" - eine Mixed-Methods-Untersuchung verschiedener Items zu religiösen Überzeugungen im ALLBUS 2012 -- Zusammenfassung -- 1 Einführung -- 2 Skalen zur Messung religiöser Überzeugungen im ALLBUS -- 3 Mixed-Methods-Designs zur Untersuchung der Validität von Fragebogenitems und -skalen -- 4 Quantitative Befunde: Antwortverhalten in Teilgruppen mit unterschiedlicher religiöser Praxis -- 5 Qualitative Befunde -- 5.1 Erhebungsmethode und Fallauswahl -- 5.2 Qualitative Befunde -- 6 Fazit -- Literatur -- Konfessionslose - Kirchenfern, indifferent, religionslos oder atheistisch? -- Zusammenfassung -- 1 Einleitung - das Problem mit den Konfessionslosen.