Keeping Faiths
Secularization and Gender: A Global Study of the Effects of Women's Employment on Religious Decline
Isabella Kasselstrand & Christopher Kollmeyer
Sociology of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
The role of women, and in particular their participation in the labor force, is an understudied factor in explaining patterns of secularization. This study draws on aggregated cross-national data to examine the relationship between women's employment and religiosity. Using longitudinal regression models, the findings indicate that increases in women's employment are associated with declines in religiosity -- a result that holds after controlling for relevant covariates. These broad findings apply to the West, to a variety of other cultural-religious contexts, but not to nondemocratic societies. The relationship between women's employment and secularization aligns with the assertion that aspects of modernization are associated with weaker religious commitment and that women hold the primary responsibility for religious socialization and for maintaining religion in the family sphere. This study thus shows that the structural position of women in the family and the economy is integral to understanding religious decline in the contemporary world.
Why Economic Development Does Not Diminish Religious Conflict
Nilay Saiya & Stuti Manchanda
International Studies Quarterly, September 2025
Abstract:
Does economic development reduce religious conflict? Many believe that cleavages and conflict over religion should become less pronounced in developed countries. In this article, we argue that economic development can actually increase the risk of religious conflict by helping create the background conditions that give rise to it. More specifically, when countries devote more economic resources to interfering in religious affairs, they experience correspondingly higher levels of religious hostilities. Conversely, if countries have fewer resources to devote to interfering in the religious realm -- a situation naturally characteristic of poorer countries -- they experience less religious conflict. Thus, poor countries do not necessarily experience higher rates of religious conflict than wealthy countries. We test this theory using a country-level, time-series analysis of a global sample of countries from 1991 to 2018. We find strong support for our theory. The results are robust to a wide range of model specifications and statistical approaches. Our findings make an important contribution to a long-standing conversation on the causes of religious conflict in the modern world.
Types of Internet Activity and the Religious Commitment of American Adults
Jennifer Laderi & Jeremy Uecker
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study addresses the ongoing debate surrounding the connection between Internet use and religious identity, belief, salience, and practices. Using data from the 2021 wave of the Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1248), we analyze the relationships between different types of Internet activity and religious outcomes. We find that time spent on online gaming is associated with a higher likelihood of holding atheist or agnostic beliefs and with lower levels of both private and public religiosity. In contrast, posting original content to social media is positively associated with personal scripture reading and religious attendance, suggesting that some forms of digital engagement may reinforce religious practices. Other activities, such as general social media use and video chatting, have no significant associations with religious commitment. Our findings suggest that the Internet and religiosity are not always at odds. Both Internet use and religion are multifaceted phenomena whose relationship varies depending on the nature of online engagement and the religious outcome in question.
How Workplace Support of Religion and Spirituality Buffered Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Kerby Goff et al.
Sociology of Religion, forthcoming
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing resource gaps, particularly in the workplace, often leading to burnout. Research shows that religious and spiritual resources buffer workplace burnout, but little research examines the impact of workplace support for religion and spirituality (R/S) on workplace burnout. Using a nationally representative survey of U.S. workers during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 1,492), we analyze the association of workplace support for R/S with workers' frequency of burnout and how this association differs between essential and nonessential workers. We find that greater workplace support for R/S was associated with less frequent burnout, net of personal religiosity, support of a faith community, and general workplace support during the pandemic. We also find a greater buffering effect for essential workers, compared to nonessential workers. These findings underscore the importance of workplace support for R/S in mitigating burnout, particularly for those most vulnerable to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Do religious people cope better in a crisis? Evidence from the UK pandemic lockdowns
Sriya Iyer et al.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, September 2025
Abstract:
We measure whether religious people in the UK coped better during the nationwide pandemic lockdowns using the Understanding Society longitudinal dataset. Using religious belonging and religious intensity, both measured before the pandemic, we find that those who belonged to a religion, and those who stated that religion made a difference to their life, coped better during the pandemic. The magnitude of the difference is sizeable. For the Caseness aggregate measure of psychological distress, the coefficient on religious belonging is around one fifth of the lockdown coefficient. We also estimate the aggregate relationship between religious intensity and coping among those who belong to a religion. Here we find no evidence that intensity of faith is related to better coping. However, we do find some heterogeneity among religions, where intensity is associated with better coping among Christians, while among Muslims we find the opposite relationship.
The power of presence: Well-being and biopsychosocial effects of virtual versus in-person religious services
Patty Van Cappellen, Camden Nelson & Jenna McClear
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although the benefits of in-person religious service attendance are well-documented, the well-being and biopsychosocial effects of virtual worship -- more frequent since the COVID-19 pandemic -- remain largely unexplored. This study examines the impact of attending virtual versus in-person worship. In a preregistered experiment, 43 adult Christians attended both virtual and in-person church services in a randomized order. Participants wore Fitbits to measure heart rate and calories burned and completed postservice surveys assessing social, affective, and well-being outcomes. Virtual services resulted in lower transcendent experiences and emotions, shared identity with the congregation, and closeness with God compared with in-person attendance. Physiologically, virtual worship led to lower heart rates and fewer calories burned, indicating reduced embodied engagement. However, well-being scores remained similar. Virtual worship may not fully replicate in-person experiences. Further research is needed to assess long-term well-being effects and implications for religious engagement.
The Religious Roots of Belief in Misinformation: Experimental Evidence from India
Simon Chauchard & Sumitra Badrinathan
British Journal of Political Science, August 2025
Abstract:
Misinformation has emerged as a key threat worldwide, with scholars frequently highlighting the role of partisan motivated reasoning in misinformation belief. Yet the mechanisms enabling the endorsement of misinformation may differ in contexts where other identities are salient. This study explores whether religion drives the endorsement of misinformation in India. Using original data, we first show that individuals with high levels of religiosity and religious polarization endorse significantly higher levels of misinformation. Next, to understand the causal mechanisms through which religion operates, we field an experiment where corrections rely on religious messaging, and/or manipulate perceptions of religious ingroup identity. We find that corrections including religious frames (1) reduce the endorsement of misinformation; (2) are sometimes more effective than standard corrections; and (3) work beyond the specific story corrected. These findings highlight the religious roots of belief formation and provide hope that social identities can be marshalled to counter misinformation.
Chants across seven traditions share acoustic traits that enhance subjective relaxation
Valentina Canessa-Pollard, Andrey Anikin & David Reby
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2 September 2025
Abstract:
For over 5,000 y, chanting has been practiced across many Western and Eastern traditions. However, there is hardly any empirical research on 1) whether chants from across the globe share common acoustic properties, 2) whether these acoustic features make them distinct from other human vocalizations, and 3) the extent to which they may positively impact listeners' well-being. Here, we collected 242 chants belonging to seven distinct traditions and associated with a wide range of language families, and compared them acoustically to a large corpus of song (n = 126) and speech (n = 616) samples from across 14 linguistic and 12 geographical regions. We show that, irrespective of language and geographical origin, chants share distinctive acoustic traits, namely relatively flat and slow-changing intonation and steady, unbroken voicing in a comfortable, rather low pitch range with a prevalence of mid-central vowels. Thus, chants are produced in a relaxed vocal tract configuration with minimal articulation. Additionally, playback experiments involving original chants (with a participant pool of 61 listeners), resynthesized chants (with 114 listeners), and fully synthetic chants (with 80 listeners) demonstrate that these acoustic characteristics enhance listeners' perceived sensations of relaxation. Specifically, relatively flat and slow-changing intonation, combined with vowel production in a relatively relaxed vocal tract configuration, resulted in higher overall relaxation ratings. Together these results hint at a specific function of chants' acoustic commonalities: the enhancement of well-being through relaxation.