War Tests Belief: Study Tracks Rapid Shifts in Faith Among Israeli Students
Researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem surveyed more than 1,200 Jewish-Israeli university students during the 2023–2025 Israel–Gaza war to see how the conflict is reshaping belief. The study, published this year in The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, reports that about half of respondents changed their level of religiosity or spirituality, with increases more common than declines.
Conducted by Yaakov Greenwald, Prof. Mario Mikulincer, and Prof. Ariel Knafo-Noam from the university’s Department of Psychology, the research asked students to assess shifts in both organized religion and personal spirituality. Roughly 25% described becoming more religious, and about one-third reported stronger spirituality. Others moved the opposite way, stepping back from religion during a period of sustained stress.
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Greenwald said the patterns reflect divergent responses to chronic threat. “Periods of protracted stress don’t just strengthen faith for everyone. For some, they bring people closer to religion, but for others, they reinforce secular values or spark spiritual searching outside of organized religion.”
The team notes that background matters. Israeli Jewish society spans secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox communities, and students from more observant groups were likelier to report higher religiosity. Secular participants more often turned toward personal spirituality rather than institutions.
The findings are framed through terror management theory, which holds that heightened awareness of mortality can push people to seek meaning through cultural values or spiritual beliefs. In Israel, daily reminders—from rocket sirens and media coverage to widespread reserve service—have been part of life since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack ignited the war. Direct exposure to violence, bereavement, or prolonged rocket fire was linked to greater movement in either direction, suggesting conflict accelerates shifts already present beneath the surface.
