{"id":199360,"date":"2025-02-12T09:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T14:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=199360"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T18:12:33","slug":"how-the-covid-19-pandemic-affected-u-s-religious-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2025\/02\/12\/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-affected-u-s-religious-life\/","title":{"rendered":"3. How the COVID-19 pandemic affected U.S. religious life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Rotolo<\/a><\/em> contributed to this chapter. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on how religious communities gather for worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a Pew Research Center survey in July 2020<\/a>, a few months after the coronavirus struck the United States, just 6% of Americans who regularly attend religious services said their house of worship was open to the public and holding services in the same way as before the COVID-19 outbreak. The vast majority reported either that their house of worship was not<\/em> open for in-person services (31%) or that it was open but with changes to limit the spread of disease (55%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a year and a half later, in March 2022, fewer than half of regular worshippers (43%) reported that their church, synagogue, mosque or other house of worship had completely returned to normal, pre-pandemic operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, despite COVID-19\u2019s widespread effects on how houses of worship operate, most Americans say their religious and spiritual lives have not been changed by the pandemic,<\/strong> according to a Center survey conducted in October 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just 10% of U.S. adults report that the COVID-19 pandemic had a lot <\/em>of impact on their religious or spiritual lives, while 20% say the pandemic had a little<\/em> impact. About seven-in-ten Americans (69%) say the pandemic had no impact at all <\/em>on their religious or spiritual lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among those who say their religious or spiritual lives were impacted, the pandemic\u2019s effects appear to be a mixed bag: Roughly equal shares of U.S. adults say the pandemic\u2019s effect on their religious or spiritual lives was mostly positive (10%), mostly negative (9%) and neither positive nor negative (11%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trends in religious service participation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the pandemic, we periodically asked U.S. adults whether they had attended religious services in person in the prior month and, separately, whether they had participated virtually (either by streaming religious services online or by watching them on TV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the ways in which Americans participate in religious services have changed dramatically, with steadily rising numbers attending in person (and an overall drop in virtual participation) as the pandemic gradually receded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the percentage of U.S. adults taking part in religious services in some way<\/em> \u2013 in person, virtually or both \u2013 has remained quite steady.<\/strong> In each of six surveys between 2020 and 2024, about 40% (or slightly more) of respondents reported that they had participated, one way or another, in services during the past month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the October 2024 survey, 32% of Americans say they attended religious services in person in the month prior to the survey, and 27% say they watched services online or on TV during the same period \u2013 both up slightly from the last time we asked these questions in November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new survey also asked respondents whether they currently attend religious services in person more often, less often or about as often as they did before<\/em> the pandemic. A second question asked the same thing about how often they watch services virtually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vast majority of U.S. adults say their religious participation habits have not changed:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n