Abstract

ISIKO, Alexander P.. Covid-19 and its Impact on Religiosity: Reflections on Religious Life and Practice in Uganda. J. Study Relig. [online]. 2022, vol.35, n.1, pp.1-32. ISSN 2413-3027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2022/v35n1a2.

The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (Covid-19) has been a trending academic research topic since 2020. Globally, numerous treatises on the relation between religion and Covid-19 exist with scholars inclined on religious explanatory models of the disease and its impact on religious practices. This has been counterfactual for Uganda, with immense scholarly attention devoted to analyzing the impact of the pandemic on socio-economic variables. Uganda, being a highly religious nation, provides an ideal case study as classical theoretical postulations stand firm on a positive sustained correlation between religiosity and natural disasters. Using the postmodernist innovative qualitative approach and unconventional 'remote' research methods of data collection due to the bitingly restrictive Covid-19 measures, the study established that this virus variably impacted religiosity. Those hitherto religious became stauncher and more stalwart. The former religiously unenthusiastically forsook religious routines. The pandemic containment measures revolutionized the long-standing religious practices and traditions, which necessitated the adoption of and adapting to fresh forms of religious expression.

Keywords : Covid-19; Coronavirus; religiosity; religious practice; Uganda; devotionalism.

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