The effect of Covid-19 emergence on religiosity: Evidence from Singapore

Abstract

How do people deal with events they cannot control? Religious beliefs and practices are common responses to uncontrollable situations. We analyzed the responses of Singaporeans surveyed between November 2019 and March 2020—just before and just after Covid-19 hit the region—to understand how the beliefs and actions of both religious and non-religious people were affected by the emergence of the previously unknown virus. We find that after the emergence of Covid-19, religious respondents reported significantly higher levels of belief and service attendance frequency, while prayer frequency was not affected. We argue that the decrease in perceived controllability over people's lives explains these results. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the dynamics of religious beliefs and practices during times of uncertainty.