‘When the Waves Roll High’: Religious Coping among the Amish and Mennonites during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Religious beliefs, practices, and social support facilitate coping with psychologically distressful events and circumstances. However, COVID-19 and governmental mandates for social distancing and isolation make in-person communal forms of religious coping difficult. While some congregations began holding virtual rituals, this was not an option for Amish and conservative Mennonite groups that restrict communication and media technologies as a religious sacrament. Governmental mandates placed a disproportionate burden on these groups whose members could not conduct rituals or interact virtually with other members and family. What religious coping strategies did the Amish and Mennonites use to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic given their restricted ability to participate in in-person rituals? We collected data from The Budget and The Diary, two Amish and Mennonite correspondence newspapers, which provide information on the experiences of community members. We content analyzed all entries from March 2020 to April 2020 and identified several themes related to religious coping focused on the positive benefits of the pandemic, specifically how it helps and reminds the Amish and Mennonites to refocus on the simple and important things in life, including God, spirituality, family, tradition, gardening, and other at-home hobbies, all of which reflect their religious commitment to a slower pace of life.

Rituals of Contagion in Closed Religious Communities: A Case Study of Amish and Mennonite Communities in the USA During the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The data used in this study provide an unparalleled lens into the lives of the Amish and Mennonites during the COVID-19 pandemic. More research is needed on how members of these communities cope with the pandemic, given limited opportunities for interaction (DiGregorio et al, 2021 ) and how they adapt to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine (Scott et al, 2021 ; Stein et al, 2022 ).…”

Pathways to Immunity: Patterns of Excess Death Across the United States and Within Closed Religious Communities

“…At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amish and Mennonite scribes described putting their faith and trust in God in their written submissions to The Budget , an Amish and Mennonite correspondence newspaper (DiGregorio et al, 2021 ). The scribes emphasized how the pandemic created an opportunity to recenter values, slow down, and focus on relationships in the family and community.…”

Individuals’ Use of Religion in Response to the COVID‐19 Pandemic as Complementary to Their Use of Medically Recommended Responses

“…In a study of how Amish and Mennonites coped with COVID‐19, DiGregorio et al. ( 2021 ) found that the most common religious problem‐solving approach was collaborative—indicating that people should trust and pray to God but also do their part to stop the spread of COVID‐19. In this sense, religious and medically recommended responses to COVID‐19 are not necessarily mutually exclusive or zero‐sum.…”