{"id":9916,"date":"2020-08-17T11:30:23","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T16:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/will-the-coronavirus-permanently-convert-in-person-worshippers-to-online-streamers-they-dont-think-so\/"},"modified":"2024-04-13T23:45:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T04:45:14","slug":"will-the-coronavirus-permanently-convert-in-person-worshippers-to-online-streamers-they-dont-think-so","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/08\/17\/will-the-coronavirus-permanently-convert-in-person-worshippers-to-online-streamers-they-dont-think-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the coronavirus permanently convert in-person worshippers to online streamers? They don\u2019t think so"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
A Lutheran pastor speaks with parishioners before the start of online worship services conducted from the basement of her home. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One-third of U.S. adults have watched religious services online<\/a> or on television in the past month, and a little over half of them \u2013 or 18% of all adults \u2013 say they began doing this for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, if you\u2019re worshipping remotely, you can\u2019t hug the other members of your congregation or shake hands with your minister, priest, rabbi or imam. But you can wear whatever clothes you want, turn up (or down) the volume, forget about traffic in the parking lot, and easily check out that service you\u2019ve heard about in a congregation across town<\/a> or even across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the reasons, lots of people like virtual worship. Nine out of 10 Americans who have watched services online or on TV in the past month say they are either \u201cvery\u201d satisfied (54%) or \u201csomewhat\u201d satisfied (37%) with the experience; just 8% say they are \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d  satisfied, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted in mid-July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does this bode for the future? By the time the COVID-19 pandemic has finally run its course, will Americans have lost the habit of going in person to a church, synagogue, temple or mosque? Some commentators have suggested<\/a> that just as the pandemic has accelerated the trend toward shopping online<\/a> and made Americans reliant on the internet<\/a> for work, school, health and entertainment, so might many, if not all, varieties of religious experience move online in the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not what the people who\u2019ve been worshipping online see in their future. On the contrary, most U.S. adults overall say that when the pandemic is over, they expect to go back to attending religious services in person as often as they did before the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>