A funeral director calls relatives of a COVID-19 victim for a virtual viewing before cremation on May 22, 2020 in New York City.
Misha Friedman/Getty Images
Religious scholars and faith leaders reflect on the death rites cultures have developed to honor the deceased, comfort the living and share the burden of mourning.
Visiting parents during the pandemic poses new risks.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
A mother with underlying conditions wants to hug her children even if means risking her own life with COVID-19. Should they abide by her wishes or keep their distance?
Grocery workers have been essential during the pandemic. so should we be paying them more?
Rob Kim/Getty Images)
After the pandemic is over, grocery workers and nurses will still be essential. But will they be paid any better?
Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before the midday prayer during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that ends May 27, 2020, and is celebrated this year amid pandemic.
Stephen Maturen/AFP via Getty Images
A survey of Muslim women finds many are frustrated by having a Islamic holy month in quarantine. But others say a ‘remote Ramadan’ is nothing new because child care duties often keep them home anyway.
Distant relatives? Visiting mom during the pandemic may be a risk.
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Is it right to visit family members during the pandemic, even if they say they don’t want you to come? Philosophy may hold the answer.
Faithful in many religions, including Islam, may turn to healing amulets like necklaces and other small objects in difficult times.
Yawar Nazir/Getty Images
From magic bowls to holy shirts, Muslim cultures used various devices to protect the user from harm starting in the 11th century. Many of these objects were beautifully designed, too.
The crisis has forced many businesses to close, prompting a spike in unemployment claims.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
With so many people in need of financial support due to the coronavirus crisis, is it right to draw on unemployment when you have savings?
The biblical book of Ezekiel describes a vision of the divine that medieval philosophers understood as revealing the connection between religion and science.
By Matthaeus Merian (1593-1650)
Those experiencing stress and uncertainty amid the coronavirus may find guidance in medieval responses to plagues, which relied on both medicine and prayer.
Buddhist monks in Thailand pray at Phleng temple amid the COVID-19 crisis, May 11, 2020.
Chaiwat Subprasom/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Many in the West may see Buddhism as more of a philosophy than a religion, but for millions of people worldwide Buddhism is very much a faith – and prayer is part of their COVID-19 response.
Tipping from a social distance at The Lucky Devil strip club in Portland, Oregon.
Steve Dykes/Getty Images
Ownerless cats may find it harder to find food scraps with restaurants closed during the coronavirus crisis. Given social distancing rules, is it okay to go outside to feed them?
Smiling schoolboys reveal their missing teeth.
Anthony Asael/Art in All of Us /Contributor via Getty Images
During this unsettling time, global leaders have assured children and adults alike that the tooth fairy, free from the risk of infection, is indeed an essential worker.
Volunteers distributing drive-thru iftar meals outside an Islamic center in Falls Church, Virginia.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AF via Getty Images
Social distancing has made giving to the poor – an obligation under Islam – harder this Ramadan. Meanwhile Muslim nonprofits are feeling the strain of the economic downturn.
Separated families have to make tough calls over parenting during the pandemic.
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Social distancing can be especially hard when it comes to where children of divorced couples should stay – especially when one of the parents has illnesses that puts them at high risk of the coronavirus.
The roads are open, but not yet the shops.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
What are the moral considerations in making the decision to reopen society while mitigating the risk of infections spreading? We asked a philosophy scholar to walk us through the quandary.
Valley of the Dawn members celebrate ‘Day of the Indoctrinator’ at their temple complex in Brazil on May 1. This year’s event is postponed due to coronavirus.
Márcia Alves
Brazil’s Valley of the Dawn faith is often dismissed as a cult. But many of the group’s fantastical rituals are a recognizable reaction to this harsh world of inequality, loneliness and pandemics.
Remote worship is becoming the norm during the pandemic.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Most Christian churches were relying heavily on ‘collection plates’ to pay their bills before the pandemic struck. And less than half were doing any online fundraising as of 2018.
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is arrested by Israeli security forces for resisting efforts to shut down a synagogue in the Me’a She’arim neighborhood in Jerusalem, April 17, 2020.
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
Joyce Dalsheim, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Persecution is central to Jewish collective memory. So when armed police entered ultra-Orthodox areas of Jerusalem to close synagogues due to COVID-19, some residents reacted with fear and suspicion.
Workers wearing personal protective equipment bury bodies in a trench on Hart Island in New York.
John Minchillo/AP Photo
From burial sites targeted by grave robbers to disposing of ashes at sea, the job of disposing of the unclaimed dead has a rich history. Sadly, it still goes on today and is on the rise.
Muslim pilgrims at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca, February 2020.
Photo by Abdel Ghani Bashir/AFP via Getty Images
Saudi Arabia is barring international visitors for the hajj. A scholar explains a long history of disease, politics and war that have previously prevented people from making the journey to Mecca.