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COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions
WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT
#198
Resilience and Reopening 

In a follow-up to the March 11 event that we highlighted last week, a webinar on April 1 will reconnect with scholars and practitioners across the world who participated in our initial 2020 webinar series. The event will explore the evolution of the pandemic and pandemic responses in several specific locations over the past two years, contextualizing the similarities and differences of religious responses to COVID-19 around the world. Please register for the event to recieve the Zoom link.
 
The “Religious Leaders Contending with the Common Enemy of COVID-19” conference took place online on March 15. Among other case studies from around the world, it focused on the Kavod-Karama (Dignity) Project, a multifaith initiative supporting religious-sensitive vaccination campaigns in Israel. The event was hosted by Bar-Ilan University's Conflict Resolution, Management and Negotiation Graduate Program and co-sponsored by Mosaica – The Religious Peace Initiative and Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. 
 
Many houses of worship are continuing to fully reopen their doors, removing all restrictions. On March 15, a letter from the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints announced that LDS temples will begin to return to full operation, including “eliminating face mask requirements and capacity limits,” in the wake of high vaccination rates among members. The letter adds that the governing First Presidency will continue to monitor “local circumstances” and adjust in-person worship guidance accordingly. Similarly, John Hendriks, a U.S. spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, announced on March 18 that the Christian denomination will return to holding in-person services and meetings at Kingdom Halls beginning on April 1. However, he added that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not quite ready to begin their characteristic door-to-door ministries and witnessing carts in cities. At the beginning of the pandemic, phone calls and letters replaced in-person witnessing, and those ministries will remain in place as in-person ministry gradually returns, “one step at a time.” Hendriks emphasized the Witnesses’ desires to respect the safety and security of their neighbors by not approaching people face-to-face yet. For the same reasons, Kingdom Halls will also continue to offer live-streaming for members who still feel uncomfortable with large in-person gatherings.
 
Academics are publishing studies completed over the past two years surrounding the effects of religious belief on both physical and mental resilience. A study published in the South African journal HTS Theological Studies in October assessed the correlation between religiosity and psychological resilience using a series of questionnaires and interviews about each of these topics. The study, conducted with 550 Muslim participants in three cities in Indonesia, all of whom had recovered from coronavirus infection, reports a strong connection between adherence to Islamic religious teaching and mental resilience in the face of COVID-19 infection. The researchers state that their results “highlighted the importance of religiosity and reliance on religious teachings in having higher resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.” "The Need for Deen: Muslim Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic," a report published in the Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association, similarly studied the relationship between religious practices such as reading scripture and daily prayer and mental health levels throughout the pandemic. The study surveyed nearly 9,000 Muslims across the world and found that Muslims often turned to religious practice to cope with the strains of a global pandemic, and that these practices were associated with improved mental health outcomes. The authors of the study hope that their findings “underscore the importance and benefit of Islamic teachings for Muslims dealing with trials and calamities like the pandemic.”

The Washington National Cathedral published Reconciliation, Healing, and Hope: Sermons from Washington National Cathedral, a collection of sermons by bishops, cathedral staff clergy, and scholars given from the cathedral throughout the pandemic. In an interview with Religion News Service, book editor and National Cathedral Provost Rev. Jan Naylor Cope noted that because of its ecumenical services and powerful sermons, the National Cathedral grew in popularity throughout the pandemic, with its virtual audiences reaching 34,000 participants weekly. The book highlights important messages of grief, pain, and resilience in dealing with global trials such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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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.
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