The Covid Pandemic and the World’s Religions: Challenges and Responses

Description

Believers from a variety of faith communities are asked to assess how the Covid pandemic has affected their faith. The anthology collects their responses to key questions, such as: · How does your faith explain why such events occur? · How has it affected your religious practices? · What changes has it necessitated? · What differences might we expect once the pandemic is over? · What have we learned from it? Two exponents of each major religion and a number of minority faiths comment on these issues, combined with a concluding essay by the editors assessing the overall impact of the pandemic on religion worldwide. Faiths explored include Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Sikh Baha’I, Jain, African Traditional Religion, Zoroastrian, Unitarian, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Science. Cover Contents Notes on contributors Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Table of acronyms 1 Covid and religion Christopher Lewis 2 Pandemics and Jewish responses Oliver Leaman 3 Some Jewish perspectives from the United States David J. Zucker 4 Covid, Communion and Christianity Clare Amos 5 We can’t forget: Conservative Protestants in the Covid-19 pandemic Camille Kaminski Lewis 6 ‘What people’s hands have earned’: Islamic perspectives on Covid Usama Hasan 7 Glimpses into Islamic perspectives and practice Farhana Mayer 8 Turning to medicine is not turning away from God: Hindu resilience in a pandemic Anantanand Rambachan 9 Chanting, karma, love and Zoom: Hindu responses to a pandemic Shaunaka Rishi Das and Utsa Bose 10 The Buddha’s prescription for the world: How people used Buddhism to cope with the pandemic Bogodá Seelawimala 11 Covid and Theravada Buddhism Peter Harvey 12 Fostering everyday culture at Shinto shrines under Covid Taishi Kato 13 The significance of matsuri festivals in Shinto during epidemics Koji Suga 14 Covid and sewa: Practising Sikhi during a global pandemic Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal 15 Sikh scriptemics during pandemic Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh 16 Navigating the Covid-19 pandemic: Building resilience: Reflections of a Bahá’í Wendi Momen 17 World-embracing vision against world-threatening pandemic George Merchant Ballentyne 18 Jains and Covid-19 Vinod Kapashi 19 Jain perceptions of the pandemic Kumarpal Desai 20 African religion: Vibrant amid Covid-19 in Eswatini Hebron L. Ndlovu 21 Opening our eyes: Covid-19 and indigenous funeral processes in African Traditional Religion Nokuzola Mndende 22 Zarathustra’s wisdom: Accepting natural consequences Jehangir Sarosh 23 Transforming challenges into progress: A Zoroastrian perspective Koka Karishma 24 Unitarians and global catastrophe: A pandemic, a war and a climate emergency Feargus O’Connor 25 Unitarian Universalists face Covid: Challenges, surprises and new pathways Jay Atkinson 26 When ‘No resident will say: “I am sick”’: The global religious response of Jehovah’s Witnesses to the Covid-19 pandemic Jolene Chu 27 How one Jehovah’s Witness community negotiated the ride of the ‘pale horse’ Gary Perkins 28 Practising my Christian Science faith during the Covid-19 pandemic Shirley Paulson 29 Personal experiences of the Christian Science faith during Covid Susan Searle 30 Covid and Theology Dan Cohn-Sherbok 31 What have we learned? George D. Chryssides Index