Pathology

Sociology

Attendance

Disease

Religiosity

Church attendance

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Clinical psychology

Pandemic

Feeling

Philosophy

Political science

Psychology

Socialization

Religious studies

Prayer

Religious identity

Religious organization

Medicine

Coping (psychology)

Social psychology

Secularization

European Societies

The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the lives of many is indisputable. Among the possible strategies to cope with the feeling of insecurity that comes with this, religion can play a significant role. Using first-hand data from the ResPOnsE COVID-19 rolling cross-section survey, this article shows that Italian people who reported a COVID-19 contagion in their family reported also higher religiosity both in terms of attendance at religious services (via web, radio and tv) and prayer during the pandemic. The result holds primarily for those who received religious socialization during their childhood, and this reinforces the role of family transmission as a way to shape religious beliefs and behaviours and to provide individuals with religious coping strategies. These findings suggest that under dramatic circumstances a short-term religious revival is possible, even in contexts where the process of secularization is ongoing.

Searching for comfort in religion: insecurity and religious behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy