On The Applicability Of Albert 's Internal And External Religious Orientation In Non - Christian Religion

The psychology of religion is one of the most important cross-faction of Western Religious Studies. In psychology of religion, Allport’s internal and external religious orientation is one of the most influential theories. Introducing the study of religion into China is important; there will be able to have a more comprehensive understanding of religion. However, if we directly apply the Western theory into China, whether there would be inappropriate or culture-bias is a problem. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Allport’s intrinsic, extrinsic religious orientation theory, whether there is culture-bias.The papers selected Buddhists to compare to Christians. Through the form of a questionnaire, the study found that five inapplicable aspects of Allport’s intrinsic, extrinsic religious orientation.1Abraham religious categories and concepts used in the non-Christian culture may encounter poor communication or incurred by the results of the believers sense of exclusion.2, the Christian standard of "true believers" not necessarily "true believers" standard of other religions, it has no applicability in other religions.3, the reason that some Buddhists choose the religion is to enhance the personal realm of thought, the perfect personality, which is not included in the Allport’s original "external orientation", the original "external orientation" do not exhaust all the possibilities.4, the premise of the theory of religious orientation-"true believers and false believers are two types, and between the two can be clearly separated"-may be inapplicable in Buddhists.5, the behaviors of some Buddhists are not derived from religion, but from their cultural environment, so for this part of the believers, religion can not be used to explain their behaviors, religion is not the cause of their behaviors. Non-applicability of this five-point can be attributed to two points:1, the relationship between believer and God is not necessarily universal.2, the relationship between one religion and social is not necessarily universal.The paper also discusses the differences between Christians and Buddhists on the inner feelings. The results showed that the proportion that Christians selected "happiness","bless guardian" option is higher than the Buddhists, this may mean that the average happiness level of Christians may higher than Buddhists; more Christians choice " entrust himself to go out "," people can not be saved through their own thinking and practice," may mean a stronger sense of dependence on God.