COVID-19 Resources for Faith Communities
The Interfaith Health Program wants to make relevant information that supports a comprehensive response to the COVID-19 outbreak available to religious leaders and members of local communities around the world who are part of any religious tradition or no religious tradition. A number of resources for protecting oneself against infection and limiting the spread of the virus have been developed by public health experts. Religious leaders and communities across North America and Europe have also developed inventive online platforms so that congregants can continue to benefit from worship and receive pastoral support from imams, pastors, and rabbis without meeting in person. These resources are important and useful for many faith communities.
However, such infection control guidance and models for online religious gatherings may not be as relevant or practical for many outside of Europe and North America. Most of the guidance for individuals and households that can help limit exposure to the virus presumes ready access to online technology, infrastructure such as indoor plumbing, and households with spare bedrooms and bathrooms to carry out self-quarantine. Such resources are not common to many citizens from low- and middle-income countries.
These designations reflect social, economic, and structural inequities that have been brought into sharp relief by the reality of COVID-19 and our response to that reality. This outbreak is a profound event with complex public health and theological implications that require serious reflection and intentional actions to challenge this reality, both in this moment and after the outbreak is behind us. Those of us at the Interfaith Health Program commit ourselves to be part of such efforts in partnership with our colleagues.
To that end, the Interfaith Health Program is working to disseminate resources that are relevant and practical for a variety of communities around the world. To support this effort, we have created three different platforms that contain resources to address the COVID-19 outbreak:
1
Resources that reflect technology and infrastructure available to many in high income countries.
2
Resources that offer recommendations that is relevant and practical for most communities in low- and middle-income countries.
3
Inter-disciplinary scholarship on the religious dimensions of the outbreak from theological studies, religious studies, or public health research.
We invite you to explore the resources on these platforms. You can ask a question or suggest a resource for us to include from any of these pages. We invite your contributions and questions as we develop resources, build a repository of resources developed by others, and work together with you to create and disseminate practical, scientifically sound, and pastorally sensitive resources for religious leaders and faith communities.