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Based on the conception of religiousness as a universal four-dimensional structure (believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging), the Four Basic Dimensions of Religiousness Scale (4-BDRS; Saroglou, 2011) has been developed. Although earlier (partially) validated in Western societies, its study in a religiously and culturally different (eastern) society may be an important cross-cultural validity test. Hence, in the present study we studied the factor structure and measurement invariance of the 4-BDRS in India (Study 1; college students sample; N ϭ 891; age ϭ 21.7 Ϯ 3.42 years; 81.1% Hindus) as well as tested its external validity (Study 2; Christian-community sample; N ϭ 99, age ϭ 32.09 Ϯ 12.65 years). Results show that the second-order factor structure model of religiousness (in which believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging are the first-order latent factors) was the best-fitting model. This factor structure was strongly invariant across gender. Moreover, church goers had higher religiousness scores than nongoers on the 4-BDRS. Thus, the present study supports the four-dimensional conception of religiousness and its cross-cultural and cross-religious applicability. Specifically, it supports the use of the 4-BDRS as a valid test of religiousness in India.

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