Church leader's Interpretation of COVID-19 in Nigeria: Science, Conspiracies, and Spiritualization.
COVID-19
Church leaders
Conspiracy theories
Government
Interpretations
Nigeria
Religious leaders
Spiritualization
Journal
Journal of religion and health
ISSN: 1573-6571
Titre abrégé: J Relig Health
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 2985199R
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
14 Nov 2023
14 Nov 2023
Historique:
accepted:
27
10
2023
medline:
15
11
2023
pubmed:
15
11
2023
entrez:
14
11
2023
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
The need for governments across the globe to collaborate with religious leaders in the fight against COVID-19 has been emphasized by international organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO). However, there has not been much discernible scholarly effort to know what religious leaders think of COVID-19. The present study, therefore, explored the interpretations church leaders have about COVID-19 in Nigeria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen leaders from Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. Using a thematic analytical approach, the study found that only few church leaders interpreted COVID-19 as a medical problem in line with science (33%). The rest interpreted the virus as a tool of conspiracies/political manoeuvrings (27%) and as a spiritual event (39%). The study discussed the implications of the findings for policy and research as well as how to address some of the harmful interpretations.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37964055
doi: 10.1007/s10943-023-01947-9
pii: 10.1007/s10943-023-01947-9
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
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