Only 10 states are preventing in-person religious gatherings in any form
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April 29, 2020
** Religion & Public Life
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A weekly digest of the Center's latest research on religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world · Subscribe ↗ ([link removed])
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** Most states have religious exemptions to COVID-19 social distancing rules ([link removed])
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In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, every state in the United States has issued guidelines or orders limiting social interaction. But these rules don’t always apply evenly when it comes to in-person worship services and other religious gatherings. In fact, only 10 states are preventing in-person religious gatherings in any form, according to a Pew Research Center analysis ([link removed]) of recent state-level regulations. Roughly a third of states (15) are allowing religious gatherings to continue without any limit on their size.
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** Americans are divided by religion on who should get critical care if there is a shortage of ventilators ([link removed])
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In the U.S. and elsewhere, questions at the intersection of medicine and morality have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as who should be given priority if some hospitals do not have enough ventilators for all patients who need help breathing. Should it be patients who need the ventilators most at the time, even if that means more lives overall are lost? Or patients with the highest chance of recovery, even if that means some people are denied potentially life-saving care based on their age or health status? Americans are split on this question, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey ([link removed]) . And there are stark differences in opinion based on respondents’ religious affiliation and how religious they are.
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** Few U.S. sermons mention abortion, though discussion varies by religious affiliation and congregation size ([link removed] )
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Abortion remains a contentious issue among U.S. Christians. But when millions of churchgoers file into the pews each week, what do they really hear? A new Pew Research Center analysis ([link removed] ) finds that just 4% of sermons shared on U.S. church websites in the spring of 2019 discussed abortion even once – and when they did, it was rarely mentioned repeatedly. Still, pastors who broached the topic were nearly unanimous in their opposition.
** Media mentions
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The U.S. states where religion is exempt from social distancing ([link removed])
April 29 - Forbes
Americans split by religion on who deserves ventilators amid coronavirus ([link removed])
April 25 - Axios
** In the news
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De Blasio breaks up rabbi’s funeral and lashes out over virus distancing ([link removed])
April 28 - The New York Times *
Religious freedom in India takes ‘drastic turn downward,’ U.S. commission says ([link removed])
April 28 - NPR
Pope urges virus lockdown obedience amid church-state debate ([link removed])
April 28 - The Associated Press
A Virginia preacher believed ‘God can heal anything.’ Then he caught coronavirus ([link removed])
April 27 - The Washington Post *
Trump says he’s ‘best president in history of the church’ in call with Catholic leaders ([link removed])
April 26 - Crux
Black pastors say they have trouble accessing SBA loan program ([link removed])
April 25 - NPR
Indian Muslims face stigma, blame for surge in infections ([link removed])
April 25 - The Associated Press
Church donations have plunged because of the coronavirus. Some churches won’t survive ([link removed])
April 24 - The Washington Post *
Muslims begin marking a subdued Ramadan under virus closures ([link removed])
April 24 - The Associated Press
Imams overrule Pakistan’s coronavirus lockdown as Ramadan nears ([link removed])
April 23 - The New York Times *
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Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank. As a neutral source of data and analysis, Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.
© 2020 Pew Research Center
