Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religion

While for almost a hundred years, churches have used various communication methods to reach their audiences, such as radio, television and online media, Gallup says that the halting of in-person worship "is one of the most significant sudden disruptions in the practice of religion in U.S.

[11] In the United Kingdom, Christian denominations including the Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Reformed, and Presbyterian Churches, published guidelines on adapting worship in light of the pandemic.

[14] World Council of Churches General Secretary Olav Fykse Tveit announced that, "This situation calls on our solidarity and accountability, mindfulness, care and wisdom... [as well as] for our signs of faith, hope and love".

[34] On 11 April 2020, the day before Easter Sunday, the president of the American conservative think tank the Claremont Institute, tweeted for "resistance and civil disobedience to an unconstitutional lockdown" so people could enjoy "free exercise of religion.

On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis livestreamed mass from an empty St. Peter's Basilica in Rome[36] while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby broadcast his sermon from the kitchen of his flat in London.

[4] As most supplies are being sent to developed countries, Lutheran World Relief is working to send resources to Africa, where Allyson Bear says "widespread poverty and crowded urban slums put Africans at extreme risk.

"[44] At Lutheran World Relief clinics in Nairobi, where multiple months of HIV medication are provided to patients, people were educated on the importance of handwashing and protective equipment has been repurposed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

ELCA is also sending food, medical and essential supply deliveries to New Orleans, Southern California, Italy, Palestine and Sierra Leone and working with the Lutheran World Foundation and the ACT Alliance.

Wright, Anglican bishop and University of Oxford professor[51]The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, which belongs to the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New York, has volunteered itself to be turned into a field hospital for coronavirus patients, which will be cared for by Samaritan's Purse health workers, who have offered their services.

The House of Bishops mentioned the possibility of "very limited access to church buildings for activities such as streaming of services or private prayer by clergy in their own parishes, so long as the necessary hygiene and social distancing precautions are taken".

[74] On the other hand, Johann Pock, the dean of the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna, wrote that if the Pope could impart a "complete indulgence" to the world via television, "why then can't the bishop… celebrate the Eucharist for his entire diocese, with believers in front of their screens actively participating and making this not just a spiritual, but an actual communion with bread (and wine) at the table?

[79] On 20 March 2020, Pope Francis announced the launch of the Vatican COVID-19 Commission, that would work under the direction of the Dicastery at the Service of Integral Human Development to think possibles solutions for the problems that the COVID-19 pandemic would bring.

[80] On 27 March 2020, Pope Francis imparted the Urbi et Orbi blessing, normally reserved for Christmas and Easter, from an empty Saint Peter's Square following a prayer for the health of all the world.

[83] Catholic dioceses and religious institutes offered church facilities to accommodate healthcare operations and provide housing for the needy in the crisis and the Holy See implemented measures to protect its high-risk residents who were more susceptible to developing complications from COVID-19.

[84] In Bergamo, the hardest hit city in Italy where morgues ran out of space, Bishop Francesco Beschi ordered the churches to be used as mortuaries, as "an act of tenderness towards people who die alone and [whose] bodies are likely to remain piled up.

[91] In his Easter message on 12 April 2020, Pope Francis echoed this call, writing "This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out.

In Spain, the Bishops' Conference "suspended all talks, concerts and catechesis sessions on church premises, and urged Catholics 'with chronic diseases, elderly, weakened or with potential risk, and those who live with them' to follow Masses via the media."

Bätzing emphasized religious freedom and said that he was confident that discussing the matter with the federal government "will very soon lead to a consensus that will make responsible forms of worship in our churches possible again.

[99][100][101] The Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople issued a worldwide suspension of all "divine services, events, and rites, with the exception of private prayer in churches that will remain open, until the end of March".

In a homily given on 29 March, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow called upon the faithful to temporarily refrain from attending church services, and to commit "to strictly following all the regulations coming from the sanitary authorities in Russia,".

[119] In Mississippi in April 2020, the First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs successfully led a legal battle against its city's government over a stay-at-home order after local police broke up an Easter service and a Bible study.

[138][139] Council of Senior Scholars from Saudi Arabia urged the Muslim world in general to prepare for Ramadan while abiding to precautionary and preventive health measures regarding acts of worship, which includes avoiding gatherings such as communal Iftar and Suhur meals.

[1][147] Mosques within the United Kingdom have suspended congregations, including traditional Friday prayers as government documents revealed that social distancing might need to be implemented in Britain until autumn.

"[149] In Southeast Asia, Malaysian officials reported on 20 March that 624 of the nation's 1,030 COVID-19 cases were linked to the gathering organized by Tablighi Jamaat missionary movement at a mosque outside of Kuala Lumpur from late February.

[6] By 12 March, when following a police request Israel's chief rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef instructed observant Jews to avoid visiting the holy site, few people continued praying there.

[185][186][187] On 2 April 2020, thousands of devotees assembled in temples in various parts of West Bengal on the occasion of Ram Navami ignoring social distancing norms prescribed by the government during the ongoing nationwide lockdown period.

[192][193] Despite concerns surrounding the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 in the country, the Hindu spring festival of Holi on 29 March 2021 was met with large crowds, with many of them flouting health and safety guidance such as social distancing.

"[208] Venerable Phra Paisal Visalo, a respected monk in Theravadin tradition, offers a Buddhist perspective on this turbulent situation, "We have to find a careful balance between carelessness and craziness.

[233][234] On 8 March 2020 Italian scholars of law and religion at the Association of Academics of the Legal Regulation of the Religious Phenomenon started a research project, coordinated by Professor Pierluigi Consorti of the University of Pisa.

Pew Research Center has conducted a survey concluding the following: As of November 2022, 12% of Americans reported participating only virtually in the past month, a decrease from 27% at the pandemic's outset, while 16% attended only in person, up from 4% in 2020.