More Americans say their faith has strengthened amid the COVID-19 pandemic than citizens in other similar countries, according to new research.
However, this finding has more to do with the high proportion of American adults who identify themselves as religious than with churches’ efforts to try to keep people engaged, the researchers said.
“Across the world, you see a very clear trend that people who are already religious are considerably more likely than their secular counterparts to say that their faith has been strengthened” during the pandemic, said Neha Sahgal, associate director of research for the Pew Research Center. As “religious Americans make up a larger portion (of the population) than, say, religious Swedes or religious Danes,” the United States, correspondingly, shows a greater increase in faith.
Nearly 3 in 10 Americans – 28% – say their religiosity has increased since the pandemic began and that they believe the same is true for their countrymen, according to the latest report by the Pew Research Center, which compares the United States to nations with equally advanced economies.
Spain and Italy came after the USA, with 16% and 15% of citizens, respectively, saying their faith was strengthened. Thirteen percent of Canadians reported the same; in the UK and Australia, that number dropped to 10%. Respondents in Scandinavia and Japan were the lowest in terms of increased religiosity during the pandemic.
As Sahgal noted, these results were driven mainly by people who were already religious before the start of the pandemic. Because the United States is more religious than other economically advanced countries, they had an advantage.
The latest data confirms “American exceptionalism” when it comes to religiosity, Sahgal said.
If the research had instead compared the United States to countries that are highly religious but less economically advanced, such as India or some nations in the Middle East, the United States could have seemed quite secular, she said.
“Whenever you make any kind of comparison, the question arises: are we really making the right comparison?” Sahgal said. “We know that economic development affects how people feel about religion.”
The Pew survey, conducted by telephone in 14 countries, showed that the majority of respondents, including most Americans, believe that the pandemic has not strengthened or weakened their faith.
“An average of 85% (among the countries surveyed) says that their religious faith has not changed much,” explained the report.
But the pandemic has changed the way the faithful worship.
When religious temples closed their doors in early 2020 to reduce the risk of infection, services went online – and many Americans followed.
In a study released last August, Pew reported that 72% of people who attended services regularly before the start of the pandemic watched them online.
Of these believers, 59% were visiting the church, checking broadcasts from places other than their original congregations. Some took the opportunity to immerse themselves in the services offered by pastors in other states.
Churches and synagogues helped the congregants to stay connected, creating new small groups that fostered a sense of community and continuity in the midst of the pandemic that broke both. Although these “prayer groups” are supporting many religious institutions, those that formed spontaneously – as well as a handful of new house churches – left some wondering if this democratic form of worship could pose a threat to churches.
The survey suggests, however, that after the pandemic, most worshipers will return to their usual practices.
In addition to comparing the responses from the 14 countries involved, Pew’s latest report highlighted differences in responses between religious groups in the United States.
White evangelicals were the most likely to report that their faith had strengthened during the pandemic, with 49% reporting that this was the case and 43% saying that they believed the same was true of other Americans. The Catholics interviewed were slightly above, but close to the national average, with 35% responding that their faith had deepened in recent months. Mainline Protestants (21%) lagged behind these two groups, as well as the national average.
While only 5% of non-affiliates said they have become more religious since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 20% believe that the faith of other Americans has grown in recent months, the survey found.
In the United States, more respondents said the pandemic strengthened their family ties than their religiosity: approximately 4 out of 10 respondents told Pew that their connections with their families have become stronger.
Young Americans aged 18 to 29 are the most likely to say this, with 50% reporting that their ties to their families have deepened; Pew’s research echoes previous findings reported in the American Family Survey that resisting the international crisis has brought families together.