COVID-19 Information Sources and Misinformation by Faith Community

Abstract

Faith communities support a variety of public health initiatives as conduits of information and service distribution points. However, with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), there is concern that religious communities may be echo chambers for misinformation and conspiracy theories that are undercutting the adoption of precautions to prevent transmission and the use of COVID-19 vaccines. The purpose of this study is to identify the receptivity to and spread of misinformation about COVID-19 by faith communities and whether embracing these inaccuracies constitutes a uniquely religious effect. This study conducted three small analyses approach. First, we engaged in the automated text mining of approximately 2.3 million discussion posts from discussion forums noted for their conspiracism and extremism. Next, secondary quantitative analysis of two recent surveys from the American Trends Panels by Pew Research conducted in April 2020 (N = 9482) and February 2021 (N = 9429) were conducted to determine whether sources of information and preventive behaviors related to the pandemic were associated with uniquely religious effects or possibly mediated by other factors such as sociodemographic characteristics or political views. The association of White evangelicals with politicized misinformation was consistent across all three small studies. Prior to the availability of vaccines, religious themes consistently appeared in 15–19% of COVID-19 social media posts and were higher in subsets of the discourse tied to misinformation. The framing of COVID-19 using religious language was associated with the Christian right in about half of the religiously-themed posts. Religious themes fell below the 15% threshold once the vaccine was available. In the survey research, small, uniquely religious effects were found with White evangelical receptivity of COVID-19 information from Donald Trump and less reliance on information from public health experts, and small, uniquely religious associations were found with preventive measures. Among White nonevangelical Protestants and non-Hispanic Roman Catholics, there was found the same combination of a higher likelihood of reliance on messages from the Donald Trump Presidency and a lower likelihood for news-media use. Black Protestants showed a higher level of use and trust in state and local government officials. The study confirmed higher use of social media among non-Hispanic Roman Catholics but did not find this relationship among Hispanic Protestants. Faith communities are not always receptive to public health messages that promote the public good. This study indicates that the religion effects can appear early, giving time for health education specialists to address them, and that these effects can diminish once preventive measures are available.