Covid-19 and its Impact on Religiosity Reflections on Religious Life and Practice in Uganda

Main Article Content

Alexander Paul Isiko https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0941-8131

Keywords

Covid-19, Coronavirus, religiosity, religious practice, Uganda, devotionalism

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (Covid-19) has been a trending academic research topic since 2020. Globally, numerous treatises on the relation be-tween religion and Covid-19 exist with scholars inclined on religious explan-atory 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 theo-retical postulations stand firm on a positive sustained correlation between religiosity and natural disasters. Using the postmodernist innovative qualita-tive approach and unconventional ‘remote’ research methods of data collec-tion 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 for-sook 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.

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