The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Times of Crisis

Dear Colleagues, 

Religion and spirituality play a significant role in human existence (Koenig, 2012). Durkheim (1982) defined religion as "a system of beliefs and practices concerning sacred things". Spirituality, however, represents a search for and discovery of the transcendent (Koenig et al., 2012). While some argue that religion is irrelevant and spirituality is broad and difficult to define, some studies have attempted to redefine their meaning and investigate their effects on humanity. Some people find great comfort in the sacred and transcendent, and there have been scientific investigations into religion's/spirituality's effects on mental health and other health-related cases. There are, however, limited resources that explore the impact of religion and health during crisis situations.

This Special Issue will focus on the substantial role of religion/spirituality in human wellbeing, especially during times of crisis. Humans face many challenges every day, and throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lost loved ones. Children who lost their parents to COVID-19 experienced trauma. The sudden death of loved ones led to feelings of abandonment. Burnout plagued healthcare workers and other responders, while others lost their jobs and became homeless as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, which disproportionately affected vulnerable populations. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor widened. There are parts of the world in which millions of civilians continue to live in fear of war and rage, and this violence affects individuals’ physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Therefore, we hope to investigate the critical role religion and spirituality play in helping people cope with distressing situations.

Original articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to):

• Religious coping;
• Public health crisis;
• Near-death experience;
• War, inequality, and social issues;
• War, inequality, and social issues;
• Climate change and anthropocene;
• Trauma, suffering, and injustices;
• Disaster, calamities, and predicaments;
• Turning points and crossroads.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Fides del Castillo
Prof. Dr. Ron Scapp
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• religion
• spirituality
• crisis
• religiosity
• religious coping
• well-being