Restrictions on Religious Worship

Abstract

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to curve the spread of the novel coronavirus became everyone’s overriding focus, and the measures which cut people off from their social life did not spare religious freedom. In fact, this freedom became one of their first collateral victim of the pandemic since churches were commonly identified as hotbeds for infection. The chapter addresses restrictions on religious worship, thus contributing to the extant literature on this topic by generalising examples from several jurisdictions. By doing so, our analysis uncovers patterns in the legal response to COVID-19 and its impacts on religious worship. We show that, on paper, light restrictions on religious practice prevailed during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not discriminate any specific religious denomination. We then preliminary assess the design of restrictions in the light of the requirements established by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Our chapter also contrasts how restrictions were implemented in different way across Europe. This empirical investigation allows us to draw recommendations on how to best safeguard freedom of religious worship in crises.