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 impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be a topic for academic research for years to come. This collection brings together international scholars from various disciplines to analyse the impact of the pandemic on both religious freedom and on religious community life in Europe. Divided into two parts, the first focuses on theoretical considerations, while the second explores local challenges and includes case studies from countries with different socio-political profiles. The book includes critical evaluations of public crisis management of religious communities during the pandemic, as well as critical reflections on religious freedom appeals in such crisis. In sum, the volume probes and challenges scholars and students of law, religion, politics, and sociology to go beyond the typical oppositions in considering Freedom of Religious Belief in the current secular European context. The work will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Law and Religion, Human Rights Law, Sociology, and Political Science.

This textbook surveys the major legal issues emanating from the policy responses to Covid-19 in the United States, with an emphasis on federalism, administrative law, and state and local government. The Covid-19 pandemic led to unprecedented policy responses from the various levels and organs of government in the United States, as well as from private parties. Business, school, and church closures, mask mandates, employer and university vaccine mandates, vaccine passports to visit movie theaters and restaurants — this panoply of responses changed the world many of us lived in and led to widespread and hotly contested litigation in America’s federal and state courts. In the first and only text of its kind, with carefully chosen case excerpts and summary information, The Law of Covid-19 highlights the key legal issues contested throughout the pandemic. Whether as a retrospective on what Covid wrought, a primer for future pandemics, or a supplement to a more general public health course, this text will help prepare you and your students for a world that will never be the same. Key Features: The Law of Covid-19 (“LC-19”) features carefully chosen and edited cases about public health authority at the federal and state levels. LC-19 focuses on the use of emergency authority by governors and mayors, including its impact on public employment and civil rights. LC-19 includes information on the federal and state health bureaucracies, including detailed recounting of the authorization and approval of the Covid-19 vaccines and boosters. Professors and students will benefit from: Organized discussion of the relevant sources of emergency and administrative authority at the federal and state levels. Thought-provoking questions and case notes that situate the relevant legal issues within the larger social and political context. A willingness to consider multiple perspectives, including those questioning whether the policy and legal response to Covid-19 may have been too draconian.

This interdisciplinary book examines how the US courts helped create the conditions that made the COVID-19 pandemic so deadly.

Even by the most unrestrained estimates, the Covid pandemic never approached the lethality of the Spanish flu of 1918. Yet the effect that our fears, amplified by the mass media, had on society were infinitely more debilitating. In times such as these, our Christian faith has always offered hope and strength. But this past year was different. The reservoir of Christian belief was drained to dangerously low levels, and many Christians succumbed to the epidemic of fear. In this clear-eyed book about the real Covid crisis, Philip Lawler dissects how Church leaders and the faithful responded to this health emergency. He explains the devastating effects on society when Church leaders tell their people not to attend Sunday Mass, and when they ban Confession, marriages, and baptisms. He tackles the dangerous consequences of treating schoolchildren like lepers and explores the ethics of vaccines and the plight of parish priests caught in the middle. Best of all, Lawler rev

The Covid-19 pandemic was global in its spread and reach, as well as in its medical, social and economic effects. In many respects, the global effort to "flatten the curve" produced a flattening of experience around the world and a striking coincidence of similar experiences in countries the world over. The identity, simultaneity and uniformity of experience were also manifest in common concerns at the intersection of law and religion in many nations around the world, including Africa. The lockdowns and closure of religious worship centres - churches, mosques and religious organisations of all sorts - raised questions of freedom of religion and the related concern for freedom of assembly, along with concerns about the relation of religion to science and public health, religious channels of communication and religious provision of social services. After all, health, communications and social services are all areas in which African religious organisations play key roles. Potential tensions around these issues raised further considerations about the nature of religion-state relations, the status of religious authority and whether religious and state actors would work together or at odds in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.

How religion reacted to the pandemic and how the virus and government policy affected religion in America

As the world enters the 21st Century, the challenges in implementing freedom of religion or belief grow more complex and more acute. How can the internationally recognized norms regarding freedom of religion or belief be meaningful for all - women and men, majorities and minorities, established religions and new religious movements, parents and children? How can tolerance, mutual respect and understanding be globally expanded? How does freedom of religion or belief relate to other human rights? Launched by the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, this deskbook anthology is designed as a single-volume resource for all who are concerned with facilitating improved global compliance with international standards in this vital area. The varied and diverse topics addressed by over fifty global experts in the field provide a rich weave of many threads. The book addresses historical and philosophical background on religious human rights, applicable international norms and the international procedural mechanisms for safeguarding these norms. It surveys central areas of controversy, including registration of religious and belief organizations, emerging debates on religion and gender, parental and children's rights, new religious movements, proselytism, and conscientious objection. Other chapters describe practical approaches to promoting tolerance and understanding through education, inter-religious dialogue, joint religious efforts addressing shared social problems, and conflict resolution initiatives. The volume also provides practical information regarding networking and other background issues that can help translate understanding of the applicable norms and procedures into action. Appendices provide texts of major international instruments on freedom of religion or belief.

COVID-19 is the most severe pandemic the world has experienced in a century. This book analyses major legal and regulatory responses internationally to COVID-19, and the impact the pandemic has had on human rights and freedoms, governance, the obligations of states and individuals, as well the role of the World Health Organization and other international bodies during this time. The authors examine notable legal challenges to public health measures enforced during the pandemic, such as lockdown orders, curfews, and vaccine mandates. Importantly, the book contextualizes the legal analysis by examining the broader social and economic dimensions of risks posed by the pandemic. The book considers how COVID-19 impacted the operation of the criminal justice system, civil litigation concerning negligently caused deaths and business losses arising from contractual breaches, consumer protection litigation, disciplinary regulation of health practitioners, coronial inquests and other investigations of unexpected deaths, and occupational health and safety issues. The book reflects on the role of the law in facilitating the remarkable scientific and epidemiological achievements during the pandemic, but also the challenges of ensuring the swift production and equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines. It concludes by considering the possibilities that the legal and regulatory responses to this pandemic have illuminated for effectively tackling future global health crises.