Religious Responses to Pandemics and Crises explores various dimensions of the interrelations between the individual, community, and religion. With their global scope, the contributions to this volume represent reflections on the rich and multifaceted spectrum of human responses in a variety of different religions and cultures to the current SARS-2-COVID-19 pandemic and similar crises in the past. The contributions are organized in three thematic parts focusing on strategies, rituals, and past and present responses to pandemics and crises. They reflect on the intersection of personal or communal responses and state-mandated policies relative to SARS-2-COVID-19 while outlining different strategies to cope with the pandemic crisis. Timely questions explored include: How do individuals connect with or disconnect from religious and spiritual communities during times of personal and collective crises, including pandemics? How do religious practices such as rituals bridge individuals and communities? How do religious texts from past and present highlight and represent crises and pandemics? Dynamic and multidisciplinary in its inquiry, this volume is an outstanding resource for scholars of religion, theology, anthropology, social sciences, ritual theory, sex and gender studies, and contemporary medical science.

"Religious Responses to the Pandemic and Crises explores various dimensions of the interrelations between the individual, community, and religion. With their global scope, the contributions to this volume represent reflections on the rich and multifaceted spectrum of human responses in a variety of different religions and cultures to the current SARS2-COVID-19 pandemic and similar crises in the past. The contributions are organized in three thematic parts focusing on strategies, rituals, and past and present human practices in response to medically induced crises. They reflect on the intersection of personal or communal responses and state-mandated policies relative to SARS2-COVID-19 while outlining different strategies to cope with the pandemic crisis. Timely questions explored include: How do individuals connect with or disconnect from religious and spiritual communities during times of personal and collective crises, including pandemics? How do religious practices such as rituals bridge individuals and communities? How do religious texts from past and present highlight and represent crises and pandemics? Dynamic and multidisciplinary in its inquiry, this volume is an outstanding resource for scholars of Anthropology, Religion, Social Sciences, Ritual Theory, Sex and Gender Studies, and contemporary Medical Sciences"--

This book investigates the role of religion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa. Building on a diverse range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches, the book reflects on how religion, politics and health have interfaced in Southern African contexts, when faced with the sudden public health emergency caused by the pandemic. Religious actors have played a key role on the frontline throughout the pandemic, sometimes posing roadblocks to public health messaging, but more often deploying their resources to help provide effective and timely responses. Drawing on case studies from African indigenous knowledge systems, Islam, Rastafari and various forms of Christianity, this book provides important reflections on the role of religion in crisis response. This book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of African Studies, Health, Politics and Religious Studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This volume brings together contextual and intercultural responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic from theological and interreligious perspectives. It searches for models of interpretation provided by religious traditions and their sacred texts, and the ethical guidance religious communities offer for coping with the pandemic. The authors explore imaginative ways that transcend the New Normal towards a »Pantopia« that does not return to the pitfalls of the Old Normal but tackles the injustices that the virus has revealed in the current Pandemonium. They strive to enable their readers to react to the glocal pandemic and its aftermath theologically informed by intercultural and interreligious perspectives. [Zwischen Pandämonium und Pandemie. Antworten auf Covid-19 in Theologie und Religion] Der Band vereint kontextuelle und interkulturelle Reaktionen auf die Covid-19-Pandemie aus theologischer und interreligiöser Perspektive. Er sucht nach Interpretationsmustern, die religiöse Traditionen und ihre heiligen Schriften hervorgebracht haben und ethischen Orientierungen, die religiöse Gemeinschaften bieten, um die Pandemie zu bewältigen. Die Autorinnen und Autoren erkunden imaginative Wege, die das New Normal zu einem »Pantopia« transzendieren, das nicht in die Fehler des Old Normal zurückfällt, sondern die Ungerechtigkeiten in Angriff nimmt, die das Virus im gegenwärtigen Pandemonium offengelegt hat. Sie wollen ihre Leser und Leserinnen dadurch befähigen, der glokalen Pandemie und ihren Nachwirkungen durch die interkulturellen und interreligiösen Perspektiven theologisch informiert gegenüber zu treten.

Europe's "Black Death" contributed to the rise of nation states, mercantile economies, and even the Reformation. Will the AIDS epidemic have similar dramatic effects on the social and political landscape of the twenty-first century? This readable volume looks at the impact of AIDS since its emergence and suggests its effects in the next decade, when a million or more Americans will likely die of the disease. The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States addresses some of the most sensitive and controversial issues in the public debate over AIDS. This landmark book explores how AIDS has affected fundamental policies and practices in our major institutions, examining: How America's major religious organizations have dealt with sometimes conflicting values: the imperative of care for the sick versus traditional views of homosexuality and drug use. Hotly debated public health measures, such as HIV antibody testing and screening, tracing of sexual contacts, and quarantine. The potential risk of HIV infection to and from health care workers. How AIDS activists have brought about major change in the way new drugs are brought to the marketplace. The impact of AIDS on community-based organizations, from volunteers caring for individuals to the highly political ACT-UP organization. Coping with HIV infection in prisons. Two case studies shed light on HIV and the family relationship. One reports on some efforts to gain legal recognition for nonmarital relationships, and the other examines foster care programs for newborns with the HIV virus. A case study of New York City details how selected institutions interact to give what may be a picture of AIDS in the future. This clear and comprehensive presentation will be of interest to anyone concerned about AIDS and its impact on the country: health professionals, sociologists, psychologists, advocates for at-risk populations, and interested individuals.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus global health crisis, state restrictive provisions imposed to restrain or at least limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, have had an overwhelming impact not only on our daily lives but also on the exercise of religious freedom, which has suffered unprecedented restrictions. With the expertise of academics and legal scholars of different jurisdictions, this book analyzes the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the exercise of religious freedom in different legal contexts and investigates how the pandemic crisis emphasized underlying judicial, political, social, cultural, ethnic, and economic challenges, giving rise to a clash between competing rights and exacerbating the tension between public, religiously neutral policies and claims for religious accommodation. Experts from different legal fields examine distinctive legal responses to the health crisis in terms of restrictions to the exercise of religious freedom, even in a comparative perspective; reactions of religious groups, in terms of opposition or cooperation, and the ability of religious leaders to provide guidance and support to their faith communities; the specific impact of restrictions on some religious communities; and the increase in religious discrimination against disliked faith-communities in specific geographical contexts.

The COVID-19 crisis suddenly changed everything in the world, including the celebration of the Eucharist. This small volume addresses existential questions concerning Christians amid the pervasive threat of COVID-19. Each author shares his personal experience during the crisis while reflecting from a Christian perspective within his personal responsibility each with a different focus. All four see meaning in the crisis as Pope Francis expresses in the foreword: it has yet again made us aware of our transience, frailty, and mortality. The crisis he says invites us to derive new hope, courage, energy, and happiness from the sources of life and faith, and to stand by those suffering hardship and difficulty. The writings in A Christian Response to COVID-19 speak to the decisions Christians are making in these days to reconcile our lives more fully with God, as we seek solidarity in our common vulnerability as human beings and place our lives into the service of other people.