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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Healing, faith and fear: church opening in the United States during COVID-19 restrictions
Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol.38(2), pp.283-304
2023
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
This article examines how resistance to stay-at-home orders was framed to congregants through sermons and in statements to media outlets. Using an approach informed by grounded theory, we analysed news articles of church behaviour and the YouTube videos of sermons from pastors that protested against COVID-19 guidelines from March 2020 to November 2020. We also draw on legal filings to identify churches that most actively resisted closures. In analysing these publicly available data, a relationship between church openings in the United States and an evangelical theology of resistance particular to non-denominational churches to public health efforts emerged. Our analysis found that 'largely evangelical' churches that are not considered part of a mainline evangelical denomination were more likely to seek ways to remain open in defiance of public health orders. We use the terms 'largely evangelical' and 'mainline evangelical' to distinguish these two very different denominational families. Evidence from this article suggests that evangelical Christian churches in the US that are not considered 'mainline evangelical' denominations (e.g. non-denominational, Pentecostal) were more likely to resist stay-at-home orders and more prepared to be legally active in resisting such policies and gather indoors (as opposed to Catholic churches and 'mainline evangelical' denominations).
Details
- Title
- Healing, faith and fear: church opening in the United States during COVID-19 restrictions
- Authors
- Naomi Smith (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and SocietyAnne-Marie Snider (Author) - California State University, Chico
- Publication details
- Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol.38(2), pp.283-304
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1080/13537903.2023.2206206
- ISSN
- 1469-9419; 1353-7903
- Copyright note
- © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99735292302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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