Pandemic Causing Germans To Lose Faith In God

New research published in the Journal of Religion and Health has found faith in God and trust in a higher power declined across the course of the pandemic. The German survey found the longer the pandemic went on, the more people seemed to lose their faith in God, Rich Haridy reported for New Atlas.

Photo Insert: The longer the pandemic went on, the more people seemed to lose their faith in God.

It is generally thought that belief in God and reliance on religious institutions increase during times of trauma and crisis. Prior studies have indicated faith-based beliefs can help people make sense of traumatic events that can initially seem meaningless or random. The research was published by the Journal of Religion and Health.

“Trauma challenges so many assumptions about who we are, what our purpose is, and how to make sense of a traumatic event,” wrote theologian Danielle Tumminio Hansen, in a piece for The Conversation last year.

“Faith-based beliefs and practices offer meaningful resources to help navigate those questions. This is why spiritual beliefs and practices across various religions can often lead to faith strengthening rather than weakening, following a trauma.”

A Pew Research poll conducted in the summer of 2020 found, in the United States at least, the pandemic was strengthening many people’s religious faith.

“Nearly three-in-ten Americans (28 percent) report stronger personal faith because of the pandemic, and the same share think the religious faith of Americans overall has strengthened, according to the survey of 14 economically developed countries,” the Pew poll found after the first few months of the pandemic.

This new study focused more on temporal changes to religious belief over 18 months, beginning June 2020 and running up until November 2021. Nearly 5,000 people in Germany were surveyed at various points over the 18-month period, and the researchers found the longer the pandemic went on, the more people were losing their faith in God or a higher power.

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