Summary: Research has found that members of certain religious groups are more likely to distrust science and medicine. However, much of that research focuses on traditional religious bodies and neglects closed religious congregations (CRCs)—congregations that prohibit or restrict interactions between members and outsiders (Iannacone 1994). CRCs can exert an outsized influence on public health emergencies. Ideological hostility to outside authority coupled with echo chamber effects from closed communication networks leave CRC members especially vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks (Arciuolo et al. 2013; Gastanaduy et al. 2016; Thompson and Kisjes 2016). This dynamic is particularly dangerous for novel disease outbreaks where isolation and social distance are the only apparent means for slowing transmission. For communities that treat collective worship as a sacrament, virtual gatherings are insufficient (or impossible for CRCs that ban telephones, radios, and the internet). The global COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to examine the influence of CRC