People are escaping the challenges of Covid-19 by turning on the TV instead of reading the Bible, a new Pew survey has revealed. 

Pew asked 10,211 adults what they were doing to help alleviate the stress and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Nine in ten said that watching movies or TV shows at least weekly was helping them cope.  Three quarters (73%) said they did this on a daily basis. 

Other popular pastimes during Covid-19 have been spending time outdoors (84%), talking to friends and family on the phone or via video (70%), and exercising (64%). 

But less than a third (29%) said they were reading Scripture on a daily or weekly basis to buoy them up.  Even for those who described themselves as Christians, less than half (42%) said they were reading the Bible regularly to help them deal with the stress of the pandemic. 

Out of the Christian respondents, black Protestants (59%) were the most likely to say that they read Scripture on at least a weekly basis, followed by evangelicals (57%).  Only 29% of mainline Protestants said they did this. 

But the survey found that praying has been a more popular coping mechanism than reading the Bible, with over half (55%) saying they did this at least once a week. 

Among Christians, around three quarters (74%) said they had prayed on a weekly basis during the pandemic. 

Nonetheless, Christians were more likely to watch TV or movies (90%) or spend time outdoors (85%) to help them unwind.