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 dynamics on public health. What are the implications of distrusting medical information during a worldwide pandemic? What medical information do members of CRCs receive, how do they interpret it, do they accept it and put it into practice (e.g., social distancing), or do they view it as in conflict with their beliefs/practices? Do these factors vary by congregational and country context? This project will study Amish and Mennonite CRCs by collecting data from two widely circulated Amish/Mennonite newspapers that publish letters from scribes located across the world, providing updates on their communities.
We will analyze these data, submit one conference presentation proposal, one manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal, and present our findings in a public forum at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Holmes County, OH. These products will demonstrate the utility of using literary sources from religious communities to study the relationship between religion and science/medicine cross-nationally and will contribute to increased scholarship in this area. This project aligns with the aims of the grant scheme in that it will produce “high quality research on contemporary religious […] views on the relationship between science and religion” in “diverse global contexts” with a focus on “how these views relate to individuals’ day-to-day lived experience.” This project will advance the religion/science literature by identifying how CRCs understand and respond to medical information during the current COVID-19 pandemic, how this affects the practice of social distancing, and whether this varies by country and congregational context.
