With the plague decimating the ranks of laborers, surviving workers started pining for higher wages. When the monarchy responded by enacting taxes and restrictive labor laws, the peasants rebelled.
Had Trump read the text he held, he would have found a story of liberation for slaves, a divine preference for the poor, and a damning critique of any empire that oppressed its people.
Protesters smash the window of a Chase bank during protests in Oakland.
AP Photo/Philip Pacheco
Understanding how unrest informed both early Christianity and the foundational stories of the United States can serve as a guide in this current period of turmoil.
Migrant workers leaving New Delhi to go back to their villages amid the coronavirus lockdown.
AP Photo/Manish Swarup
Dalits have long been ostracized as the ‘untouchables’ in Indian society. Discrimination and the impact of the coronavirus have only reinforced their status.
A man marks places in a mosque for worshippers to maintain distance during prayers after the government relaxed the weeks-long lockdown that was enforced to curb the spread of the coronavirus, in Peshawar, Pakistan.
(AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
The ulema’s reaction to the government’s decision to limit access to mosques — and the civil society’s counter-reaction — should be viewed in terms of challenges to traditional theism in modernity.
Woodcut from 1665 depicting the Black Death.
Wikimedia
With the number of declared ‘non-believers’ growing worldwide, researchers sought to discover what beliefs the irreligious turn to when times are tough.
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.
A worker from Sanctuary, a Christian charitable organization, tends to homeless people in their tents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on April 28, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Canadian and American religious groups are responding very differently to coronavirus public health measures. Why? In Canada, health care is more widely regarded as a public good and a right.
Google searches for the word “prayer” have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic. With the world feeling vulnerable, more people are finding solace in online religious gatherings.
Ruins of the Tower of St Roch, or Tower of the Patriarch, following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake by Jacques-Philippe Le Bas.
Wikimedia Commons
The big questions don’t get much bigger. After the Lisbon earthquake killed thousands, philosopher Voltaire took aim at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and skewered his view that God is good.
Is a face mask used to help block coronavirus really that different from a niqab?
(Ashkan Forouzani/Unsplash)
Now that face masks are being used to help fight the spread of COVID-19, it has caused some to look anew at discrimination against Muslim women who wear niqabs.
Preparation for the Seder: A 14th century miniature showing the master of the house distributing the matzot (unleavened bread) and sweetmeat during passover. From Haggadah for Passover (the ‘Sister Haggadah’).
(British Library)
People have always searched for meaning in their misfortunes. It can be comforting to believe that things happen for a reason and something can be learned in chaotic situations.
A crucifix, believed to be miraculous, that in 1552 was carried in a procession around Rome to stop the great plague, left, frames Pope Francis, wearing white, as he delivers a prayer from an empty St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, on March 27, 2020.
(Yara Nardi/Vatican News via AP)
Some countries have imposed much stricter restrictions on religious worship than others as part of the coronavirus lockdown.
As the pandemic continues with Easter on the horizon, physical distancing means that many churches are closed and in-person religious ceremonies are paused.
(Shutterstock)
This isn’t the first time sports have been put on hold. But in the past, the reprieve was brief, and sports went on to act as a way to bring Americans together. This time’s different.
Empatheatre’s latest production is more than a play about three characters who live near the sea. It’s a model for collective consultation on how to save the ocean.
Indonesian religious leaders have a big role to play in times of crisis.
The Indonesian Communications and Information Ministry
As a nation with a strong religious sentiment, Indonesia could rely on its religious leaders to be more involved in communicating messages about the crisis.
Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity