Religion and COVID-19 (April – December 2020)
Starting in December 2019, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread to the majority of countries in the world and three months later the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 as a global pandemic. Indonesia is not spared from it. After the declaration of the disease as a pandemic the President Joko Widodo issued health emergency regulations, including the closure of workplaces in Jakarta and other cities, restriction of public transportation, as well as discouragement of religious and other public gatherings. Indeed, pandemic is not only an issue of public health, but responses to it have touched on all aspects of life, from finance, employment to education and religious life. This research focused on the social-political-religious dimensions of the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. It is the result of a collaboration between ICRS and CRCS, supported by available research grants from different sources (UGM Graduate School, Ristekdikti, Ford Foundation, Oslo Coallition for Freedom of Religion or Belief and Brigham Young University’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies). The research focuses on six main topics: State, Civil Society and Covid-19, Religious and Social Innovations, Cultural and Religious Perspectives on Covid-19, Limitations to Freedom of Religion or Belief, Hospitality and Hostility in Social Media, and Women and Covid 19. This research ran from April until December 2020; its results have been published in different media, and more are coming.
- A report, published in July 2020, written by Suhadi, Zainal Abidin Bagir, Asfinawati and Renata Arianingtyas entitled Pembatasan Hak Beragama di Masa Wabah COVID-19 (The Limitations to Freedom of Religion or Belief during the COVID-19 Pandemic).
- Samsul Maarif published an article titled Re-Establishing Human-Nature Relations: Responses of Indigenous People of Indonesia to COVID-19 in the Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society (7: 2) (2021).
- Another part of the research project focusing on social media and COVID-19 attempts to understand the hospitality of netizens during the pandemic. An essay coming from the research is titled Information Arbiter as a Manifestation of Digital Hospitality and in Bahasa Indonesia Penengah Informasi sebagai Keramahan Media Sosial.
- A research focuses on women’s experiences during the pandemic through four observations, i.e., women’s workers, social-religious women’s activists, women in religious minority groups, and women with disability. The research result was presented at the International Symposium on Religious Life (ISRL) 2020, and the paper published in its proceeding entitled Women, Religion and COVID-19:-Cohesive Agency, Resilience-Building and Inter-spatial Performance. The findings of this research also published by National Geographics Indonesia entitled Bagaimana Manuver Perempuan Indonesia Merespons Dua Tahun Pagebluk. Other publications written by our researchers can be read: Opportunity for Harmony? Social Empathy of Ahmadi and Sunda Wiwitan Women during Pandemic written by Siti Aliyuna Pratisti; Narratives of Life Maneuvering in Reshaping New Living Space during COVID-19: A Case Study of Women Activist in Manggarai Region, Eastern Indonesia written by Maksimus Regus; and Kapital Spiritual Tenaga Kesehatan Perempuan Selama Pandemi COVID-19 di Salatiga written by Jessy Petsy Ismoyo.
- COVID-19 Pandemic provoked conspiracy theories and initiated the sequence of the end of time (akhir zaman or hari kiamat) for some religious believers, especially Muslims and Christians. The research delved into the meaning of the pandemic for some Indonesian Christians, notably among those who understand the crisis as part of God’s eschatological scenario. Forthcoming publication entitled “Reading the signs of the times: Christian Apocalypticism and the Conspiracy of the Covidians” is written by Dr. Leonard Ch. Epafras.
- Michael Northcott, ICRS Adjunct Professor, published a book chapter titled “Religion and Ecology in Indonesia After Covid-19” in Zainal A. Bagir, M. Northcott, F. Wijsen, eds. Varieties of Religion and Ecology: Dispatches from Indonesia (LitVerlag and NICMCR: Zurich), 2021, pp. 183-209. (The book is discussed here).
- Suhadi Cholil presented the result at Western Australia Indonesia Forum, The University of Western Australia, 2020 entitled “Religious Based Vaccine Hesitancy in the Context of Covid-19 Pandemic: Indonesian Muslim And Christian Views”.