Religiosity, attitudes toward science, and public health: Evidence from Finland
研究利用芬兰全国调查数据，发现宗教信仰较强的人对科学和医学态度更消极，且保守宗教团体比例高的市镇新冠感染率更高、疫苗接种率更低。
We explore how religiosity influences perceptions and the adoption of protective health behaviours, as reflected in COVID-19 infection and vaccination rates. In the first part of our analysis, we use Finnish data from four nationally representative surveys, we find that individuals with higher self-reported religiosity and those from more conservative religious groups tend to hold less favourable attitudes towards science, technology and medicine, compared to non-religious individuals. In the second part, we observe that municipalities with higher shares of conservative religious groups experienced greater COVID-19 spread and lower vaccination rates, with these trends persisting throughout the pandemic. Our findings underscore the importance of accounting for religiosity when crafting public health policies, as it may contribute to the existence of non-compliance hotspots. • We study how religiosity relates to the adoption of protective behaviours in Finland. • Persons with higher levels of religiosity are less favourable to science and medicine. • COVID-19 incidence was higher in more religiously conservative municipalities. • Vaccination rates were lower in in more religiously conservative municipalities. • The opposite was true in municipalities high more religiously unaffiliated persons.