Webinar: The impact of COVID-19 on religious and faith communities

On 27 May at 4pm CET, the DOC will hold a webinar exploring the impact of the global pandemic on faith communities featuring speakers from the world’s foremost academic and civil society organisations specializing in religion. How did it affect the tensions and conflicts? What is being done or not, and what will face us post-COVID?

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought profound changes to our lives, including our religious observance. In accordance with government and public health measures, most churches and religious organizations closed to the public, adopting unprecedented measures such as livestream or drive-in worship services and suspended pilgrimage trips.

Though houses of worship across the globe are increasingly empty, not all religious leaders are ready to accept the norms of social distancing. Many religious traditions require social gathering and communal prayer during key events in the holy calendar, which has caused serious tension between religious and civic authorities. Some have decried government limits on religious freedom, while others have blamed religious groups for spreading the coronavirus or demonstrating increased risk of religious extremism.

Response to the global pandemic requires a reimagining of previous practices and the introduction of new approaches to our lives. The goal of this webinar will be to give an overview of the impact of the global pandemic on faith communities, and to look at possible scenarios in a post-COVID-19 world.

Questions to be discussed during the webinar:

• What are the main consequences of the pandemic for religious communities? How can religious leaders and their followers help overcome the challenges of the pandemic?
• How should we reduce social tension stemming from religious factors? How can we foster solidarity within and between different religious communities and improve mental and physical wellbeing during the pandemic?
• What religious practices could become the new normal in a post-COVID-19 world? What could be the future role of religion in society?

We will be joined by the following speakers:

Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University, Executive Director, World Faiths Development Dialogue

Victor Kazanjian, Executive Director, United Religions Initiative

Patrice Brodeur, Professor, Institute of Religious Studies, University of Montreal & Senior Adviser, KAICIID

and moderator

Scherto Gill, Senior Research Fellow and Executive Secretary at the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace.