The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most devastating disasters of the twenty-first century and has exacted a steep health and economic toll. During times of suffering caused by the pandemic, religion/spirituality may prove to be a consistent and valuable coping resource. We situate changes in religious importance and reliance on God as key aspects of religious life that may be...
Existing literature emphasised the spiritual value of grandparents in a child’s faith nurture, but this was not reflected in contemporary understandings or practices of the Christian community. The discourses surrounding the perceptions and practices of grandparents themselves, the local church and wider Christian society were investigated; uncovering the dynamics of cross...
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced disruption that crossed sectors, borders, and disciplinary boundaries. Among faith communities and religious leaders, numerous commentators have observed technological innovations in response to physical gathering disruptions. We outline a form of pandemic spiritual leadership that supports faith communities beyond digital innovation by combining...
It is typically assumed in the social scientific study of religion that individuals attend one congregation or none. As such, there is scarce research on individuals who attend more than one congregation yet doing so may affect congregational participation. This study theorizes factors affecting whether someone attends multiple congregations and how this might influence...
The relation between religiousness and prejudice has been the topic of a large research literature, yet this was so far mostly limited to Western societies with a Christian heritage. Using global data from the 6th wave of the World Values Survey, this study compared the religiousness-prejudice relationship between adherents of monotheistic and non-monotheistic religions. Focusing...
This article is focused on social activity of Polish migrants in the Republic of Ireland in the context of change in their religiosity after coming to Ireland. This research applies statistical methods to the study of the impact of change in religiosity going beyond answering the question of whether migration is a disruptive event that either alienates immigrants from religious...
Although religious involvement tends to be associated with improved mental health, additional work is needed to identify the specific aspects of religious practice that are associated with positive mental health outcomes. Our study advances the literature by investigating how two unique forms of religious social support are associated with mental health. We explore whether...
Coming out conversations are pivotal and stressful experiences for sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). Coming out can lead to more affirmation, safety, confidence, and improved relationships. However, adverse coming out experiences can lead to damaged relationships and ostracization, which may be more likely in conservative religious contexts. The purpose of the current study...
Vaccines represent one of the best ways to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy among the population limits the effectiveness of vaccines. Recent research has explored the role of religion in vaccine hesitancy, but in doing so has encountered a “black box” problem. There is a relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy, but the explanation for why...
Religious identity research has predominantly investigated effects of discrete factors, despite many factors exercising interconnected effects on religious connectedness, resulting in a limited understanding of the mechanism influencing religious identity development. This study examined the mechanism underlying the religious identity development in Jewish young adults, also...
Research to date has suggested that religion might be a source of comfort and strength in times of crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it may also be a form of stress if spiritual struggles are experienced. We posit the discussion of religious and spiritual matters as a potential feature of religious life that may be helpful or harmful for dealing with the impacts...
The African Sisters Education Collaborative (ASEC) operates education programs for women religious in ten countries of Africa south of the Sahara. As ASEC prioritizes strong relationships with partner institutions, understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these stakeholders is central to providing effective interventions that will ensure continuation of its programs...
In the past decades, Western European countries have become increasingly religiously diverse; furthermore, a growing share of their population is now youth with a migration background. Little is known about the role religion plays in social ties among children of native and immigrant origins. This study examines religious group boundaries among youth in secondary schools in...
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically upended religious life and placed significant strain on religious congregations. However, the effects of the pandemic were likely not felt evenly across the religious landscape. We used data from the fourth wave of the National Congregations Study, gathered on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic in 2018–19, to identify the kinds of congregations...
Among the modern Western countries where the issue of religiosity has been studied, the United States and Italy offer the only examples of empirically verified periods when religious practice was consolidated or even revived to some extent. A recent study, however, shows that the nature of religious exceptionalism in the United States does not constitute a real counterexample...
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches in the United States were forced to stop meeting in person and move to remote forms of worship and congregational life. This shift likely impacted congregational finances, which are primarily driven by individual donations. Initial research has suggested that there is a great deal of heterogeneity in the financial impact on...
While attitudes towards death and dying have attracted much scholarly attention, surprisingly little is known about the practice of visiting cemeteries. According to the secularization thesis, the fate of cemetery visits conforms with declining church attendance. A de-secularization theory suggests that, in the modern world, cemeteries increasingly became spaces for a society of...
The attitudes of Catholics in Britain have undergone significant liberalisation on social moral issues across recent decades, whilst the reputation of the Catholic Church has suffered due to public opposition to its traditional teachings on such issues. But there has been comparatively little recent investigation into British Catholics’ views on these debates using surveys aimed...
The absence of census data on religious identification in Nigeria since 1963 leaves much uncertainty about the most basic religious composition of the country. It is generally accepted that identification with traditional worship declined over the middle of the twentieth century as identification with Islam and Christianity increased, leaving these the two dominant religious...