Meador, Jake. “The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church.” The Atlantic, July 29, 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/christian-church-communitiy-participation-drop/674843/.

Meador looks at how churches might offer better community as a balm to W.E.I.R.D. lifeways and toxic capitalism.

Why must religion be the source for these communal and social supports? Why can't alternate social structures or institutions handle these functions?

Is this why the religious right is also so heavily opposed to governmental social support programs? Are they replacing some of the needs and communal desires people in need have? Why couldn't increased governmental support programs be broader and more holistic in their leanings to cover not only social supports, but human contact and community building as well.

Do some of these tensions between a mixed W.E.I.R.D. and non-W.E.I.R.D Americans cause a lot of the split political identities we see in the last few decades? What is the balm for this during the transition?

Šrol, J., Cavojova, V., & Mikušková, E. B. (2021). Social consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: Evidence from two studies in Slovakia. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y4svc

Kadambari, S., & Vanderslott, S. (2021). Lessons about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among minority ethnic people in the UK. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, S1473309921004047. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00404-7

Busby, M. (2020, May 9). Young men more likely than women to break lockdown rules – UK survey. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/09/young-men-more-like-than-women-to-break-lockdown-rules-uk-survey

British Psychological Society. Responding to Coronavirus: Resources and support. https://www.bps.org.uk/responding-coronavirus