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a30 feature
Thursday 16 april 2020
A virus that hits all faiths tests religion's tie to science

By ELANA SCHOR and ful comments against the
MARIAM FAM nation's Muslim minority.
Associated Press Rehman acknowledged
NEW YORK (AP) — Tanza- that "Jamaat was careless
nia's president claimed the on its part, but the govern-
coronavirus "cannot sit in ment is guilty too. First they
the body of Christ." Israel's failed to stem the outbreak
health minister dismissed a and now they are turning
potential curfew by saying the pandemic into a com-
that "the Messiah will come munal issue."
and save us." A global Most U.S. religious services
Muslim missionary move- have paused or shifted on-
ment held mass gather- line as the federal govern-
ings — and took blame for ment discourages group
spreading the disease. gatherings to help contain
While most leaders of ma- the virus. But a few faith
jor religions have support- leaders and congregants
ed governments' efforts in America, where religious
to fight the pandemic by freedom was already a
political minefield, have re-
belled against those limits
and claimed an incursion
on their rights.
Others have taken less ag-
In this Monday, March 2, 2020 photo, Israel's Health Minister Yaakov Litzman delivers a statement gressive steps to assert the
as he visits a makeshift tent for quarantined coronavirus voters in Tel Aviv, Israel. power of communal wor-
Associated Press. ship, pointing to what they
limiting gatherings, a minor- nia, President John Magu- Saad told worshippers. "If see as the ability of belief to
ity of the faithful — in both fuli told a church congre- you die by coming to the heal the pandemic's spiri-
religious and secular institu- gation last month that he mosque, then this is the tual pain. Retired Catholic
tions — have not. was "not afraid of coming best place to die." moral theologian Janet
Some have insisted that in- here" because the virus A spokesman for Jamaat, Smith is among those in her
person worship should con- could be combatted with Mujeeb ur Rehman, said faith urging bishops to sup-
tinue because of the relief belief. the recording was taken port the restoration of the
it can provide. Others have Israeli Health Minister Yaa- out of context. holy sacraments, delivered
suggested that faith is an kov Litzman had insisted "There was no malice in it," in person using tactics that
authority higher than sci- on exempting synagogues he said. "During the same wouldn't flout governmen-
ence, and belief can turn and other religious institu- sermon, he also went on tal orders.
back contagion. tions from limits on public to ask his followers to fol- "We believe that Jesus is
The struggle to adapt reli- gatherings, according to Is- low the government guide- really there and is bringing
gious behaviors to a pan- raeli media reports, only to lines to battle the spread graces in the world that will
demic that doesn't distin- come down with the virus of the virus." Indeed, many help stop this coronavirus,"
guish between denomina- himself this month -- appar- Muslim clerics and religious said Smith, who recently
tions or national boundar- ently after failing to heed authorities across the world retired from Sacred Heart
ies was especially urgent the social distancing pre- have worked to promote Major Seminary in Detroit.
in its earliest weeks, before cautions he had publicly mosque closures or other She suggested outdoor
many countries fully locked preached. restrictions. and drive-up meetings with
down. But as more officials Litzman is now widely seen But the Pakistani govern- priests as options for receiv-
trace virus hot spots back as a symbol of lax attitudes ment -- accused of moving ing sacraments.
to faith gatherings, calls that led to a dispropor- too slowly to curb gath- Susannah Heschel, pro-
have grown louder for the tionate number of cases erings -- refused to order fessor of Jewish studies
devout to protect each in the ultra-Orthodox Jew- mosques closed. Instead, it at Dartmouth College,
other's physical well-being ish community that he be- limited congregants to five pointed to an assumption
first. longs to, which makes up or less. Still, some hardliners among some that "we con-
"One of the things that just over 10% of the popu- remained defiant despite trol God, and we don't —
most religious faiths stress in lation. Though he dismissed advice to stay at home as if somehow, if we pray in
the first instance is to care a possible Passover curfew from the country's Islamic a large number in a church
for the most vulnerable in last month, Israel ultimately Ideology Council. Maulana or a mosque or synagogue,
a community, to save oth- imposed a national lock- Abdul Aziz, a cleric at the somehow this virus will
ers' lives as a primary fo- down on the holiday's first Red Mosque in Islamabad, come to an end."
cus," said L. Gregory Jones, night. urged the faithful to chal- Last month in Iraq, some
dean of Duke University's In India, the Muslim mission- lenge restrictions, arguing it defied a curfew to ob-
divinity school. ary movement Tablighi Ja- was a sin to keep mosques serve the anniversary of
But for some people of faith maat came under fire with empty. the death of revered Shiite
-- particularly those whose the online circulation of an In India, authorities said Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.
churches, synagogues and audio clip said to be of its they linked hundreds of One of the visitors who
mosques are important chief Maulana Saad, urg- infections to Tablighi Ja- have trekked to the imam's
community centers — that ing the faithful to continue maat's activities and ac- gold-domed shrine com-
focus appears to conflict to congregate at mosques. cused the movement's plex, Ayoub al-Moussawi,
with the very fabric of their "They say that the infection leadership of negligence. said he has over the years
lives. will spread if you gather The news inflamed religious braved threats to perform
In majority-Christian Tanza- at a mosque, this is false," tensions and sparked hate- religious visits.q