Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Recent research has explored the phenomenon of religious residue, which describes the tendency for religious cognitions, emotions, and behaviors to linger after deidentification from religion. We sought to test the religious residue effect in health-related attitudes. METHODS: We report a secondary analysis (N = 3,688) examining religious residue in the context of health-related attitudes, comparing Christians (n = 2,303), Christian dones (n = 926), and never religious individuals (n = 459) in the United States. RESULTS: Overall, results revealed that religious dones' health-related attitudes largely mirror the never religious participants'. Such findings did not support the religious residue hypothesis for this domain, but rather highlights the link between current religious identity and health-related beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: This work provides an important boundary condition for religious residue and instead suggests potential reasons why people may deidentify from religion. We discuss areas for future research.