Can war influence religiosity even among people living outside the immediate conflict area?
Can war influence religiosity even among people living outside the immediate conflict area?
In a new study led by Radim Chvaja in cooperation with LEVYNA's Martin Lang, we examined how the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected religiosity in neighbouring European societies.
Using survey data collected before and after the invasion, the research team found that religious engagement increased in nearby countries, but not uniformly across populations.
In Czechia, the increase appeared mainly among people already identifying as religious. In Poland, stronger changes were observed among those identifying as non-religious.
Additional analyses of Google Trends data across multiple countries suggested that searches related to prayer rose more strongly in societies geographically and historically closer to the conflict.
The findings indicate that the psychological effects of war may extend beyond directly affected populations.
At the same time, responses to threat appear to depend on the social role and public presence of religion within a given society.
The study contributes to broader debates on adversity, coping, religiosity, and cultural responses to insecurity.
Read the full paper here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2601082?scroll=top&needAccess=true#abstract
In a new paper published in iScience, the LEVYNA team examined whether reliable commitment signaling is driven primarily by intuitive processes or by deliberative cost-benefit reasoning.
In a new study published in Evolutionary Human Sciences, and let by a LEVYNA researcher, we examine a central prediction of secularization theory: that greater material security should be associated with lower religiosity.
