The impact of paranormal belief, spiritual practice, and religiosity on attitudes to the COVID pandemic: empirical findings from Austria
This article examines the impact of paranormal belief, spiritual practice, and religiosity on attitudes towards the COVID pandemic in Austria. The empirical results indicate that both paranormal belief and spiritual engagement are associated with an above-average tendency to question mainstream scie...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 40, Issue: 3, Pages: 473-489 |
| Further subjects: | B
Covid
B Spirituality B Conspirituality B Religion |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article examines the impact of paranormal belief, spiritual practice, and religiosity on attitudes towards the COVID pandemic in Austria. The empirical results indicate that both paranormal belief and spiritual engagement are associated with an above-average tendency to question mainstream scientific assessments of the dynamics of the COVID pandemic, to believe in COVID conspiracy theories, and to disapprove of COVID protective measures, while religiosity is associated with an above-average willingness to comply with such measures. The results also show that belief in paranormal phenomena and spiritual practice are to some extent associated with different ways of viewing and responding to the pandemic. Belief in COVID conspiracy theories and disapproval of COVID protective measures among respondents with paranormal beliefs are largely due to their general scepticism about science and associated with a convergence towards right-wing authoritarian political orientations. The objections of spiritual practitioners to COVID safeguards appear to be motivated by specific health concerns rather than general scepticism about science and spiritual practitioners are less susceptible to right-wing orientations, even when they disapprove of the safeguards. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2025.2576416 |
