Two-Thirds Of Religious Americans Believe Coronavirus Is A Message From God

A poll conducted by the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found most of the 1,002 respondents see a deeper meaning in the pandemic that has killed nearly 87,000 Americans and tanked the economy. 

Some 63% of the believers surveyed said they think God is telling humanity to change the way they are living, with Evangelical Protestants the most likely to believe that strongly compared to mainline Protestants and Catholics.

While the vast majority of respondents chalked up the situation to either foreign governments or the U.S. government (43% and 37%, respectively), about one in 10 directly attribute the pandemic to human sinfulness.

More than half of those surveyed said they felt God would protect them from infection, though 9% say God has abandoned humanity.

The virus has prompted some Americans to reevaluate their beliefs, with 2% of respondents saying that they believe in God today, but did not before the pandemic and less than 1% reporting that it caused them to abandon their beliefs.