Conspiracy as asurrogate for religion? Religiosity, spirituality, and affinity towards conspiracy myths in times of crisis

Abstract

In times of crisis, alternative interpretations of the world that challenge the public sphere gain impact. During the COVID-19 pandemic, such narratives spread in the form of conspiracy myths. They give explanations for complex questions by assuming that social events are planned and controlled by secret elites. Moreover, they are often based on pseudo-transcendental explanations that defy scrutiny but fill fateful events with meaning. In this context, the question arises whether conspiracy myths contain religious or spiritual elements. In this study, we use arepresentative population survey conducted in April 2022 in German- and French-speaking Switzerland (n = 1221) to examine the relationship between spirituality, religiosity, and affinity toward conspiracy myths. The results show that emotional concern during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important predictor related to conspiracy affinity. The more negative the emotional concern, the higher the affinity towards conspiracy myths. Conversely, positive emotions during the pandemic negatively affect conspiracy affinity. While religious affiliations and religiosity hardly influence conspiracy affinity, spirituality turns out to be the most important predictor in our study. We conclude that in secularized societies spirituality without involvement in traditional religious communities can result in an increased openness to conspiracy myths as asurrogate for religion.