Study on religion and social cohesion in the time of the corona pandemic
By political scientist Carolin Hillenbrand
The corona crisis touches on the central problem addressed by religion: namely, coping with contingency. Contingency is everything that is possible but not necessary – questions about why and wherefore, which arise especially in times of crisis like the current pandemic. What role does the religiosity or spirituality of individuals currently play in how they deal personally with the corona crisis? This is the question that we investigate in our study, which we are conducting together with an international research group (with scholars from Italy, Spain and Finland) and the “Research Institute for Social Cohesion” at the University of Leipzig. Besides religious attitudes and behaviour, the study also examines the key social and political dimensions that make up social cohesion (e.g. trust, identification, willingness to take responsibility, participation). The keyword “cohesion” is enjoying a boom at the moment – in the media, politics and society. But what is the real state of our cohesion at present? Are we moving closer together or are we drifting further apart? And what role does individual religiosity play in this – does it unite us or divide us? These are the questions that we aim to answer with our study.