#163
COVID-19 Storms Shift Location; Vaccine Challenges and Religious Freedom Concerns

The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic remains high, though deeply unequal, and this applies to religious communities. Life returns to near normal in some settings, while in others the all too familiar reports of overstretched hospital emergency rooms, tensions around gatherings, and social effects of the emergency are unrelenting. Areas of particular focus include India (where Catholic Church contributions are highlighted) and Indonesia (with an intriguing case of a cleric jailed for lying about a positive COVID-19 test). Sufferings of religious minorities in Pakistan are a continuing concern. In the United States, a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee in late June highlighted the importance of focusing on white evangelicals, “the most COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant group in the country.” 
 
An interesting new publication by the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone, “The Church in Post COVID-19 Sierra Leone,” offers insights into the “massive impact of the pandemic.” The book brings together 10 authors and provides both theological insights and a historical perspective on how the church in Sierra Leone has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers practical medical aspects of how to confront COVID-19 and offers information on “the abject socio-economic circumstances in Sierra Leone.” Many deaths from COVID-19 strike home. One such is the death of Rev. Phumzile Mabizela, a deeply admired and persistent leader, including of the International Network of Religious Leaders Living With and/or Personally Affected by HIV (INERELA+). 
 
Vaccination advocacy, organization, and resistance, often with religious dimensions, continued as a central focus. A Berkley Center/Transatlantic Network on Religion and Diplomacy event on June 29 gave an overview of religious roles in global vaccination efforts. Vaccination of large parts of the global population are seen as a race between virus and vaccination, with both religious communities (Muslim leaders among them) and individual congregations (in Oregon in this case) increasingly involved. An Afrobarometer study of five African countries highlighted high levels of vaccine hesitancy and low levels of trust. A study conducted by the ifa Research Programme 'Culture and Foreign Policy' centered on religion and the upswing of conspiracy ideologies in times of crisis.
 
A France-based organization, AHIMSA Forum, held a four-day virtual event that focused on different dimensions of religious engagement. Of particular interest was a session highlighting lessons learned from COVID with Sarvodaya (Sri Lanka), Mohammediya (Indonesia), CHAG (Ghana), and Shanti Ashram (India) featured as well-established and innovative faith-linked organizations. Katherine Marshall and WFDD have a long-standing partnership with AHIMSA and were part of planning and executing the event.
 
Three webinars focused on interfaith matters in the context of the upcoming G20 Interfaith Forum (September 12-14 in Bologna, Italy), which touched on COVID-19 issues. A first was broadcast from Matera, Italy, focused on religion and human rights. A second explored issues for Latin America, with religious responses to COVID-19 an important focus: “In 2020, and in the face of the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, the G20 Interfaith Forum focused particularly on the way in which this pandemic and the measures taken by States to combat it, affected the fundamental right to religious freedom. A year later, we propose to review the evolution of these issues in Latin America, considering that far from having concluded, the pandemic has spread and deepened in the region; and at the same time there are new challenges linked to vaccination” (Juan Navarro Floria). A July 1 webinar on gender issues and religion also highlighted religious roles in responding to COVID-19. 

Religious freedom and COVID-19 continue to inspire a focus on religion/state relationships and the impact of discrimination against certain groups.  An interview on civil society research programs notes that “since 2020, the spread of COVID-19 has had devastating consequences not only for our daily lives but also on the European and U.S. legal systems.” One respondent notes the role that religion plays in right-wing populism. “They legitimise their notions of inequality. They divide the world into good and evil, black and white. It's about an 'us' and 'them'. Nearly all right-wing populists in Europe refer to Western Christianity. It's less about religious content than about a devaluation of Islam and Muslims. Anti-Semitism also plays a major role in conspiracy theories. All of this is part of an authoritarian syndrome in which projections onto scapegoats are essential.”