The pandemic has exposed a deep rift between Israel’s 1 million ultra-Orthodox Jews and the country’s other 8.25 million Jewish and Arab citizens. Health minister Yaakov Litzman, who is Hassidic, has been accused of breaking his own ministry’s social distancing guidelines and then meeting with the prime minister and other senior government officials, prompting calls for his resignation from secular society.
Read MoreGilead Sciences, which has raised hopes of a drug to treat coronavirus with some early signs of success in clinical trials, is named after an ancient salve used in Bible times.
Read MoreIndian Muslims are being targeted in different parts of the country following reports that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at a mid-March gathering hosted by a Muslim missionary society.
Read MoreCombining Buddhism, Haiku poetry and meditative photography, Tyler Knott Gregson offers insight into coping with chaos, loss and isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic through his experiences struggling with autism. He shares his artwork and his journey with more than 350,000 Instagram followers, self-identified “Chasers of the Light.”
Read MoreDays after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a 21-day countrywide lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Hindu nationalist-led government ushered in a new residency law for Kashmir, opening up India’s only majority-Muslim region for settlement by outsiders.
Read MoreThe French Father Choux helped his colleagues in normalization-period Czechoslovakia, a time following the 1968 Soviet invasion of the country marked by secret police and threats to clergy. He died at age 74 on April 10, after suffering with a neurodegenerative disease.
Read MoreTanzania is one of several East African countries still allowing religious gatherings, while this Easter weekend marked the steepest rise in confirmed coronavirus cases so far. Churches have been a foundation of trust between communities and government officials, and some say they are the key to disseminating prevention tips like good handwashing practices. But others are teaching that the virus cannot infect a godly person.
Read MoreThe coordinated Easter 2019 terrorist attack in Sri Lanka killed 290 people and injured about 500 others at three churches and three hotels. Survivors struggle to pay for their medical treatment and regain financial stability, despite government compensation, and insist their faith in Jesus has grown even stronger.
Read MoreWith a long-trending decline in the number of Americans who identify as Christian, stay-at-home orders are testing churches’ ability to maintain connections with followers or lose more of their flocks. During Holy Week, many churches report higher views online than can fit in their sanctuaries. Some are even hosting virtual activities like an Easter egg hunt to engage kids.
Read MoreMeet the Christ (pronounced “Crist”) family. They built a tiny chapel to inspire their rural Oklahoma community. In the midst of COVID-19, it’s taken on a deeper meaning.
Read MoreTwenty-five years ago, a college junior was raped and murdered. Her parents found peace by sharing Jesus with the men responsible.
Read MoreCivil rights activist and Baptist minister Al Sharpton talked to Religion Unplugged about the support for Donald Trump among some black evangelicals. With Trump's opposition to abortion and support for traditional family values, some black evangelicals say they have no choice but to vote for Republicans while others like Sharpton question how a majority of white evangelicals can support Trump. About 80 percent of African Americans have voted Democrat since the 1960s.
Read MoreWhen the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt, God sent ten plagues to trouble Pharaoh, each one more horrible than the last. The last plague was the worst of all — a disease that felled the firstborn of every family, except in Jewish families who marked their door with lamb’s blood. This year, many Jews will rewrite the Passover story from the Book of Exodus to include an eleventh plague — COVID-19.
Read MoreSuman Amara Ahmad has always known that her future was not hers to chart. The journey of a waqf-e-nau begins in the womb, when a mother pledges her unborn child to God. At age 15, Amara continued the pledge. “I could be sent anywhere in the world,” she says. “It’s all up to the Khalifa.”
Read MorePentecostals belong to an evangelical sub-group that believes that the supernatural “gifts of the Holy Spirit” are operative today. Of those who are active in politics, the best-known is televangelist Paula White, who says she led President Donald Trump to the Lord before his 2016 presidential run and is now an advisor to the White House. One prominent group, Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice (PCPJ), is fueling a movement of charismatic scholars, religious professionals and activists who are passionate about social justice and defeating Trump in the 2020 election.
Read MoreMore than 24 people who attended a Sunni Muslim gathering earlier this month in Delhi have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the health ministry. Some of the ruling Hindu nationalist party’s leaders and supporters have taken to social media to blame Muslims for the inevitable spread of the virus in the nation of 1.3 billion people.
Read MoreA recent poll found that two-thirds of evangelical pastors say their tithe incomes have fallen in the past two weeks, since the spread of coronavirus hit the U.S. Churches are responding with salary cuts, temporary layoffs and reorganizing budgets while filling food pantries for those stuck at home without work.
Read MoreWith restrictions on pubic gatherings due to COVID-19, Jewish life has had to adapt. While several religious gatherings have transferred to online formats, some rituals cannot go remote.
Read MoreA bat mitzvah livestreamed, a growing virtual kaddish minyan to recite prayers and remember loved ones, a shivah service to mourn a death — digital tools are redefining what it means to be Jewish during a pandemic.
Read MoreItaly’s lockdown to combat coronavirus has suspended Masses. The Catholic church is turning to digital technology for the young to connect to local parishes. To reach an older population, they rely on conventional TV and radio programs by hosts most of the audience have never seen before.
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