Question

Describe the role of religion as it is perceived and lived during the current COVID 19 pandemic.

Answer 1

The coronavirus pandemic continues to highlight the enduring power of the global religions and the consequential role played by religious leaders and communities in either heeding or ignoring public health advice.

Religion is a potent, long-standing, and pervasive social force. The social power it generates can be used in helpful ways to slow the spread of COVID—19 or in harmful ways that hasten the spread of the virus. Religious gatherings have been key drivers of the spread of the disease. Infections tied to services held by a Christian group in South Korea in early February formed the epicenter of the outbreak there. Infections that occurred during a four-day pilgrimage to Malaysia in late-February by 16,000 Muslim faithful are believed to have spread the virus to six other countries, a case described as “the largest known viral vector in southeast Asia”. In the United States, transmission among mourners attending a Christian funeral has left Dougherty County, a rural county in the state of Georgia, with a per capita infection rate more than two times higher than that of New York City (as of 1 April).

religion has impacted and will continue to impact the COVID—19 response in myriad ways. It has spread and will continue to spread the disease through continued religious gatherings that ignore public health advice. It has slowed and will continue to slow the spread by offering sound health information framed in ways that are intelligible, culturally and theologically relevant, contextually practical, and trusted. There are limits, however, as to what we can know at this time.