Religion and Religious Freedom in the COVID-19 Era: Finding Community and Hope

 

The Religious Freedom Annual Review brings together nationally recognized policy makers, scholars, and religious leaders to discuss the role of religion and religious freedom in the United States. This year’s review was held online, with broadcasts in both English and Spanish.  Reports and recordings from the conference appear below. (more…)

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The Transformative Power of Loss: Finding Community and Hope for All


This post by Elizabeth A. Clark, Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, is taken from an address at the final session of the 2020 Religious Freedom Annual Review.

Community and hope seem to be in short supply these days. Initial bursts of national unity in response to COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. have become seriously frayed, revealing for many, how splintered American life was even before the pandemic.  Self-isolation and social distancing tear at the heart of community. Is a meaningful community even possible when we are unable to be there for each other at book clubs, weddings, or even funerals?

Hope for many also feels out of reach. As of the end of May, over 100,000 Americans had died from COVID-19, more than in the Vietnam War. A staggering one-third of Americans have experienced high levels of psychological distress during the crisis.[1] Over 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits, the most since the Great Depression and roughly ¼ of the pre-COVID 19 work force.[2] Many who still do work have positions where they are vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure, and yet others struggle with disabilities or family situations that exacerbate the effect of the crisis. (more…)

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Racial Justice Requires Religious Freedom


This guest post by Brian J. Grim, Ph.D., President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, is gratefully reprinted, with permission (Original here).  Brian is a leading expert on how faith and business build a better world.  

Shock, outrage and calls justice over the heartless murder of George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer continue to grow across America and the world. Communities of faith are at the forefront of the growing movement to address racial prejudice. It is cutting across party lines, as was seen when Republican Senator Mitt Romney joined a march this weekend organized by Christian churches in the Washington area, carrying signs that based their call for racial equality in the Bible.

Photo: Washington, DC, USA – June 5 2020: Street sign at the newly designated Black Lives Matter Plaza, with the steeple of St. John’s Episcopal Church in the background

And as Reuters reports, it is cutting across faith lines too. Conservative and mainstream religious leaders are joining with Black churches, progressive Catholics and Protestants, Jewish synagogues and other faith groups in calling for police reforms and efforts to dismantle racism. (more…)

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