(OPINION) American Catholicism lost one of its giants following the death of 89-year-old Joseph O’Hare, a Jesuit priest who served as president of Fordham University for nearly two decades as well as the editor of America magazine.
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More 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.
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A 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.
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(OPINION) During this pandemic, people will have to learn to do without rights that once seemed inherently given. Those include the right to assemble as millions of Americans are asked to shelter in place. What does that mean for freedom of religion?
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With 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.
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(OPINION) As our lives are forced to slow down and spend more time with our children working from home and conducting school online this spring, it’s an opportunity to embrace our own children, strengthen our own families and deepen our faith. And perhaps Fred Rogers is a perfect guide in that process for adults and children.
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(REVIEW) The first season of eight in the biggest crowdfunded media project of all time sticks to Biblical accounts of the life and character of Jesus while imagining how he may have spent his leisure time, prayed about his struggles and changed lives. The show’s makers have just allowed free streaming until Mar. 30 to help people quarantined by the novel coronavirus outbreak.
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A 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.
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Italy’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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In the news these days — including religion headlines — it’s all coronavirus all the time. Our Weekend Plug-In columnist explores some of the COVID-19-related big ideas and questions emerging in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) The roles that religion and religious leaders play during crises have consequences for how people regard religion long after the crisis ends. We should consider the past to understand the implications the coronavirus pandemic will have.
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(OPINION) One woman — Mary Mohammadi — has come to represent the imprisoned persecuted Christians of that Shiite Islamic country, who face vicious treatment and the threat of deadly disease inside Iran’s notoriously filthy and brutal prisons. Their crime? Belief in Jesus.
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Nyepi Day, or The Day of Silence, is a Hindu new year celebration unique to Bali. For 24 hours, the festival looks a lot like social distancing. But Balinese authorities are also allowing tens of thousands to attend ceremonies during the pandemic — and experts fear that despite warnings to limit gatherings, the coronavirus will spread.
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(OPINION) The Bible and the CDC both impose isolation on us, requiring us to use a higher power to overcome our human instincts to comfort each other with touch.
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Catholics have called for the intercession of a great number of saints (such as Saint Pope Gregory the Great) throughout history to help defeat widespread illness, plagues and epidemics. There are scores of saints that can be called upon in a time of crisis. While the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Catholics are looking for the intercession of these five saints to battle COVID-19.
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(OPINION) For many clergy, taking their services online is a new phenomenon, but the liturgy at the heart of these services has been passed down through many times like this one.
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The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ push toward Deaf inclusion recently culminated in the publication of the first complete ASL (or American Sign Language) Bible, passing their 1,000th language mark for Bible translations. It was a long road to get there, the Deaf community in the church says.
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Social distancing is important, but social avoidance is not okay, says Ron Lewis, pastor of the multicultural church Every Nation NYC as they moved services online. The church was formed during another crisis— 9/11— and sees its mission, to help people grow their faith, uninterrupted during the current pandemic.
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Passover seders are often cherished family memories. But this will be remembered as the year when a public health crisis prevented generations of family from gathering together, when those who did not travel watched on a computer screen as the story of the exodus from Egypt was retold.
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(OPINION) Iain McGilchrist says Western Christianity is undermining itself. C. S. Lewis said something similar. Both cite the same reason. We’re starting with the wrong metaphor. By focusing too much on law and substitutionary atonement, Christians forget the marital love present in the cross.
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