Religious Resistance to Quarantine Has a Long History

April 10, Bianca Lopez, professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at SMU Dallas, for a piece warning about the perils of religious groups resisting quarantines during pandemics – today and throughout history. Published in the aggregator Inside Sources: https://bit.ly/2VmqLBx

In numerous parts of the United States, certain stripes of Christianity and quarantine orders stand in direct opposition, resulting in deadly outcomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ignoring or refusing to follow social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines, congregations from California to Florida have continued to assemble for worship services and thereby put themselves and their communities in peril.

Examples include Sacramento County in California where more than 100 of the county’s 314 coronavirus cases are related to churches. Some of the congregations have ceased meeting in church buildings but continued to gather in homes, even though dozens have fallen ill and one has died of COVID-19, public health authorities say. . .

Continue reading “Religious Resistance to Quarantine Has a Long History”