The Covid Pandemic and the World's Religions

Believers from a variety of faith communities were 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.

George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow at York St John University, UK and was formerly Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Emeritus Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales, UK.

Notes on Contributors Foreword, Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury Acknowledgements Table of Acronyms 1. Covid and Religion - Christopher Lewis, (Dean Emeritus, Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford, UK) 2. Pandemics and Jewish Responses - Oliver Leaman (University of Kentucky, USA) 3. Some Jewish Perspectives from the United States - David J. Zucker (Rabbi and Author, UK) 4. Covid, Communion and Christianity - Clare Amos (World Council of Churches, Switzerland) 5. We Can't Forget: Conservative Protestants in the COVID-19 Pandemic - Camille Kaminski Lewis (Furman University, USA) 6. "What people's hands have earned": Islamic perspectives on Covid - Usama Hasan (Al Quran Society, UK) 7. Glimpses into Islamic Perspectives and Practice - Farhana Mayer (University of Oxford, UK) 8. Turning to Medicine is Not Turning Away from God: Hindu Resilience in a Pandemic - Anantanand Rambachan (St Olaf College, Minnesota, USA) 9. Karma, Chanting, Love, and Zoom; Hindu Responses to a Pandemic - Shaunaka Rishi Das (Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK) and Utsa Bose 10. The Buddha's Prescription for the World: How People Used Buddhism to Cope with the Pandemic - Bogodá Seelawimala (Head of the London Buddhist Vihara and the Chief Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain, UK) 11. Covid and Theravada Buddhism - Peter Harvey (University of Sunderland, UK) 12. Fostering Everyday Culture at Shinto Shrines under Covid - Taishi Kato (Shinto Priest, Hattori Tenjingu Shrine, Osaka, Japan) 13. The Significance of Matsuri festivals in Shinto during Epidemics - Koji Suga (Kokugakuin University, Japan) 14. Covid and Sewa: Practising Sikhi during a Global Pandemic - Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal (University of Southern California Riverside, USA) 15. Sikh Scriptemics during Pandemic - Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh (Colby College, USA) 16. Navigating the Covid-19 Pandemic: Building Resilience: Reflections of a Bahá'í - Wendi Momen (University of Derby, UK) 17. World-Embracing Vision Against World-Threatening Pandemic - George Merchant Ballentyne (Leicester Council of Faiths, UK) 18. Jains and Covid-19 - Vinod Kapashi (World Congress of Faiths, UK) 19. Jain Perceptions of the Pandemic - Kumarpal Desai 20. African Religion - Vibrant amid Covid-19 in Eswatini - Hebron L Ndlovu (University of Swaziland, Swaziland) 21. Opening our eyes: Covid-19 and Indigenous Funeral Processes in African Traditional Religion - Nokuzola Mndende (Nelson Mandela University, South Africa) 22. Zarathustra's Wisdom: Accepting Natural Consequences - Jehangir Sarosh (The World Council of Religions for Peace) 23. Transforming Challenges into Progress: A Zoroastrian Perspective - Karishma Koka (University of Cambridge, UK) 24. Unitarians and global catastrophe: a pandemic, a war and a climate emergency - Feargus O'Connor (World Congress of Faiths, UK) 25. Unitarian Universalists Face Covid: Challenges, Surprises, and New Pathways - Jay Atkinson (Starr King School, USA) 26. When 'No Resident Will Say: "I Am Sick"' - The Global Religious Response of Jehovah's Witnesses to the Covid-19 Pandemic - Jolene Chu (Archivist, World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses, USA) 27. How one Jehovah's Witness community negotiated the ride of the 'pale horse' - Gary Perkins (Independent Scholar, UK) 28. Practising my Christian Science Faith during the Covid-19 Pandemic - Shirley Paulson (Formerly Head of Ecumenical Affairs, Christian Science Church, USA) 29. Personal Experiences of the Christian Science Faith during Covid - Susan Searle, (Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia, Australia) 30. Covid and Theology - Dan Cohn-Sherbok 31. What Have We Learned? - George D. Chryssides Index