coronavirus
Pope Francis sits at St. Peter's Basilica during an extraordinary "Urbi et Orbi," normally given only at Christmas and Easter, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the Vatican, March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/Pool
Catholics wrestle with COVID-19 recommendations given by pope and bishops.
As the nation tries to slow the advance of the coronavirus pandemic, most of the nation is engaged in responsible social distancing. In this episode of our Sunday Sermon in a Pandemic series, Sojourners Executive Director Adam Taylor and Rev. Jim Wallis share their thoughts on biblical teachings that can guide us through these times when the staggering devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic ravages our nation — and the world — after months of unconscionable inaction by President Trump.
President Donald Trump listens to a question during the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington, April 2, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
COVID-19 ignores the social constructs we've made to disregard one another.
Migrants detained in an ICE detention facility in Basile, La. display signs related to COVID-19 in this combination of screenshots taken during a video conferencing call. Handout via REUTERS
Detention center COVID-19 outbreaks could quickly swamp local hospitals.
FILE PHOTO: A doctor wears a protective mask as he walks outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan in New York City. April 1, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid
The likely death toll numbers confirmed this week by medical authorities as a result of the coronavirus pandemic are staggering.
FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of Rikers Island, where multiple cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, in Queens, New York City, March 22, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
While many adjust to a new normal of isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, others are sounding the alarm, warning of the vulnerability of those in America’s prisons and jails.
“If I’m not speaking for the least and the last — and a large group of those are incarcerated people — then who will speak for them?” Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown of Plymouth United Church of Christ in Seattle, told Sojourners. “My solidarity most certainly must be attached to those who are most vulnerable.”
Faith leaders are working creatively to spread the word about the census by posting information on social media, preaching on the census during remote worship services, and placing op-eds in local outlets. We will not let a global pandemic stop us from making sure every person in this country receives the representation and resources they deserve.
We have survived catastrophe in the past. And not just survived – ultimately, we thrived.
Photo by Katherine Gu on Unsplash
This past Sunday, some of the only Christians legally permitted to gather in person for worship in many states were those of us who gathered for worship in prisons. I am a chaplain at a women’s minimum custody prison, and I welcomed my congregation to worship with the words, “Tonight we are not just worshipping for ourselves. We are standing in the gap for Christians in the whole state and in much of the nation who are not permitted to gather together to read the lectionary, say the Lord’s Prayer, or celebrate the Eucharist.'
CBPP President Bob Greenstein examines what the $2 trillion stimulus bill means for Americans.
People buy supplies in a local store after health authorities found a positive patient of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the nearby city of Metapan, in Texistepeque, El Salvador, March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
Priests, doctors, and journalists there told Sojourners the Central American country of just 6 million people has had one of the most robust responses in the world to COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
A gospel choir performs at the 2020 gathering of the Christian Open Door Church in Mulhouse, France, Feb. 18, 2020 in this still image taking from a video. Christian Open Door Chuch/Handout via REUTERS.
The prayer meeting kicked off the biggest cluster of COVID-19 in France — one of northern Europe's hardest-hit countries — to date, local government said. Around 2,500 confirmed cases have been linked to it.
The plague of Florence in 1348, as described in Boccaccio's Decameron. Etching by L. Sabatelli after himself. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Between 1347 and 1352, 'The Great Mortality' touched a third of Europe's population.
In this first episode of the Sunday Sermon in a Pandemic series, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Jim Wallis discuss making connections to faith and worship, spiritualty and justice, in the digital and social media age.
Image via REUTERS/Tom Brenner
Like grocery store workers and first responders, domestic workers occupy a space on the frontlines of the pandemic. While some care for the elderly and people with chronic illnesses in their homes, others face dwindling job prospects, with little savings to stock up on the groceries and cleaning supplies Americans have flocked to stores for.
A woman recites the "Our Father" with a rosary in her hand in the window of her home, in Grosseto, Italy, March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
As President Trump has said he’d like to see “packed churches all over our country” on Easter Sunday to help him re-open the country and restart the economy, which he apparently thinks will help him get re-elected, we need the words of the Lord’s Prayer more than ever. The call to reopen comes despite the exact opposite instructions from health are professionals, along with governors and mayors across our nation, to maintain our social distance and closures until the danger of this modern plague are past us. Trump’s dangerous invitation to take our worship and prayers back into our churches before it is safe to do so is not only monstrous political irresponsibility, but religious sacrilege.
The church is called to meet Jesus in the streets with the homeless — for in a time when people are called to shelter in place they have no place to go. The church must also meet Jesus in places like Flint, Mich. where poor people who are already suffering from respiratory conditions related to contaminated water are amongst those at highest risk.
Pedestrians are reflected off a window as they walk past boarded-up businesses in the Hayes Valley district after California Gov. Gavin Newsom implemented a statewide "stay at home order." March 21, 2020. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
In this moment, Chinese and Asian American communities are facing the double stress of having to reckon with the racism and xenophobia they encounter, compounded with having to deal with the virus outbreak itself.
German energy supplier and utility RWE is reflected in a puddle in Neurath, north-west of Cologne, Germany, Feb. 5, 2020. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
We can make radical change more quickly than we imagined. COVID-19 and climate change demand nothing less.
Volunteer sets up portable hand-washing station. Credit: Dani Andujo, Love Beyond Walls.
Lecrae and Pastor Terence Lester teamed up to build portable hand-washing stations.