Copy
View this email in your browser
COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT
#197
Faith and COVID-19: Resource Repository

The Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities, the World Faiths Development Dialogue, and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University launched a new repository website on faith and COVID-19. The website is a reorganized and easier-to-use version of the lengthy Google Document where we had previously posted new sources (the Google Document has now been retired). The website is updated weekly and includes over 1,000 resources that can be sorted by date range, region, religion, and more. A webinar on March 11 marked the launch of the website and took stock of two years of the project tracking the COVID-19 emergencies and religious responses. Also published was "Two Years and Counting: COVID-19 Through a Religious Lens."
 
As the war in Ukraine continues to escalate, some religious leaders are contributing to conspiracy theories. In a public letter, Archbishop Viganò, former Vatican envoy to the United States, drew a controversial parallel between what he perceives as “censure and intolerance” towards COVID-19 vaccine opposers and towards people who refuse to recognize Putin as responsible for the war in Ukraine. The archbishop also suggested that this is part of a wider plot led by the “deep state” to subvert the world order, thus fueling and linking conspiracy theories on COVID-19 and on the war. A study conducted among Roman Catholics in Poland investigated the role of religiosity and religious fundamentalism as a predictor of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. It concluded that, while general religiosity was not associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, religious fundamentalism did predict a higher likelihood of believing in statements like “coronavirus was created by pharmaceutical organizations,” as well as lower adherence to public health guidelines.
 
An especially worrying report suggests that the polarization of political debate on COVID-19 vaccines in the United States could have repercussions on non-COVID-19 vaccine requirements for children. In Iowa, support for compulsory non-COVID-19 vaccinations for schoolchildren fell from 59% in 2015 to 24% in 2022. More than one in three respondents favored limited or broad exemptions, including on religious grounds. In Kansas, new legislation has broadened religious exemptions to non-COVID-19 vaccines and threatens to remove all preschool vaccine mandates. The Thomas More Society, on behalf of Sister Dierdre Byrne, a Catholic nun and former military officer, is suing Washington, DC over the rejection of her request for religious exemption from the vaccination mandate for health care workers. Sister Diedre Byrne, a trained physician-surgeon, currently volunteers in clinics and hospitals in Washington, DC.
 
A symposium on “The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Vulnerable Communities in the Philippines,” organized by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, focused on the ways in which different groups marginalized on the basis of different factors, including religion, coped with the pandemic. Participants highlighted the importance of “sensitivity to local traditions” when addressing mental health issues connected with COVID-19 among indigenous communities. 

In many countries, the engagement of religious actors in the provision of health services fills gaps in often fragile and insufficient public health infrastructures and can link health interventions to broader social outreach to communities. According to the preliminary version of a study on the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict-affected area, more and less established religious actors collaborated with health authorities in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These collaborations appear to have played a key role in reconfiguring the relationship between the state and religious groups, with newer actors such as Pentecostal and revivalist churches calling for more balanced partnerships and bottom-up approaches.
Help Spread the Word
 
Share the sign-up form for the weekly highlights: http://eepurl.com/gWBK5n

Share the resource repository: https://bit.ly/covidfaithrepository

If you have news articles, guides, or other relevant resources you wish to share with us for review please email covid19.faithresponse@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in learning more about groups facing acute vulnerabilities (refugees, elderly, those impacted by the digital divide, in fragile states, etc.). Please send us any information you see.
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Website
YouTube
Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
3307 M Street NW, Suite 200︱Washington, DC 20007
202-687-5119berkleycenter@georgetown.edu

You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the
COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions mailing list.
update your preferences I unsubscribe from this list | View this email in your browser

Copyright © 2022 Georgetown University. 
All rights reserved.