Theodicy perspective as an effect of the interpenetration of mental and religious issues during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland.

Abstract

This paper aims to answer the question regarding the extent to which the various types of COVID-19 pandemic experiences differentiated the intensity of religious attitudes among Poles. For this purpose, the validity of a working hypothesis derived from Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory was tested. According to this hypothesis, the interpenetration of mental and religious systems in times of a pandemic leads to the emergence of meanings that reorganise communication with other social systems. Thus, we sought empirical indicators of the strengthening of theodicy orientation within our respondents' mental and religious systems in correlation with the pandemic situation. The data obtained from the statistically representative sample of 2,312 adults who self-identified as believers were processed using four measurement scales, and the working hypothesis was verified through stepwise linear regression analysis. The results obtained indicate that the COVID-19 experience was a dominant variable in shaping religious behaviour, to the extent that demographic factors under pandemic conditions turned out to be statistically insignificant. The observed interpenetration of mental and social systems went beyond these differences, as it concerned the very foundations of communication in an environment that introduced serious disruptions in the information flow between social subsystems and humans.