The Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on participation in religious services just as it did on workplaces, but a new survey indicates strong emotional resilience from those who consider their faith vital to their existence.
That was part of the findings of a survey conducted late last year of 1,600 adults, mostly from Washington, Maryland and Virginia. Nearly 40% of the respondents identified as Catholic.
Respondents who reported a decline in religiosity since the pandemic had more than twice the odds of feeling isolated and lonely than respondents who did not report such a decline.
“Religiosity seems to be a buffer against negative stresses,” said Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the sociology department and an associate professor of sociology.
Fewer than 20% of the sample said their mental health had worsened, he added. The one area where people report a deterioration in their lives was in feelings of isolation.
Mr Vaidyanathan, who also is a fellow of the Institute of Human Ecology, and his colleagues conducted the “Mental Health in Congregations Study”. It was funded with grants from the John Templeton Foundation and the HE Butt Foundation.
Reflecting the pessimism before vaccines became widely available earlier this year, as well as more than six months of livestreamed services by the time the survey was conducted, only slightly more than half the respondents said they planned to return to in-person worship services only; 44% said they planned to combine in-person worship with online services. Almost no one said they wanted to participate only in online worship.
“The staggering amount of change” on congregations “has been anxiety-producing … to a monumental degree”, said Scott Thumma, a professor of sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. He thought the survey result “speaks highly to the adaptive behaviour” of religious communities.
He thought it “very clear” that many want the combination of online and in-person worship. Worshippers “won’t like it if that (face-to-face worship) goes away. In fact, they may drop back off”.
“Let’s not take for granted the people who are still experiencing the trauma and the isolation,” Mr Vaidyanathan said.