Faith and falsehoods: Why religious people are drawn to conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy

This study investigates how religiosity relates to belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and compliance or resistance with vaccination and sanitary measures, also considering cognition, personality, and sociopolitical attitudes. We conducted an online survey (Spring 2022) with 257 Belgians adults, assessing religiosity, conspiracy beliefs, compliance/resistance to vaccination and sanitary measures, self-enhancement (inflated self-view), agreeableness, political authoritarianism, attachment style, intuitive vs. analytic thinking, and mathematical skills. Conspiracy belief and vaccine hesitancy were related to high intuitive thinking, self-enhancement, left-wing authoritarianism, and low math skills. Compliance with sanitary measures was unrelated to religiosity, but religious individuals tended to believe in conspiracy theories and resist vaccination. These effects were due to religious people’s (a)intuitive thinking and (b)self-enhancement or low math skills