id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-033481-3kxi7fd9	Baker, Joseph O	Religion in the Age of Social Distancing: How COVID-19 Presents New Directions for Research	2020-09-16		.txt	text/plain	5004	216	37	In this brief note written during a global pandemic, we consider some of the important ways this historical moment is altering the religious landscape, aiming our investigative lens at how religious institutions, congregations, and individuals are affected by the social changes produced by COVID-19. The centrality of intensive interactive rituals for producing the communal benefits of religion (e.g., social support, emotional catharsis, perceived healing) ensures that there will be persistent tension between many religious groups' desire for in-person gatherings and the social distancing requirements necessary to limit the spread of COVID-19. Thinking about religion as the object of analysis and its role in disease transmission, a clear and consequential way that the pandemic has changed religion is the suspension of in-person religious gatherings, and the corresponding need to engage in "socially distanced" forms of interactive religious services and rituals.	./cache/cord-033481-3kxi7fd9.txt	./txt/cord-033481-3kxi7fd9.txt