Religion is more resilient during pandemic.

A new survey indicates people with a strong faith displayed the strongest emotional resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic

A survey conducted late last year of 1,600 adults in the United States, where nearly 40 percent of the respondents identified as Catholic, reported they were coping better with Lockdowns.

 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 percent 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, but only “a very small number,”Vaidyanathan said, reported their “sense of purpose in life having been weakened.” 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 only to in-person worship services; 44% said they planned to combine in-person worship with online services. Almost no one said they wanted to participate only in online worship.

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