Faith Buildings & the Easing of Lockdown

A church is not a pub. That might seem like an obvious statement but it is really important to understand that for people of faith and belief places of worship are not generally seen as places of entertainment. Though it involves sublime performance, my attendance at church is not a leisure activity like going to the theatre; though I am exhilarated by it, my worship is not recreational like going to a party or a club; instead it is part of my identity and my life.

This season of restriction has been extraordinarily hard. It has brought devastating loss, fear, anxiety and sorrow for many and, sadly, it is not over yet. But as I write, there is now a sense that we are looking forward, albeit with justifiable trepidation, to a gradual (and potentially very longwinded) return to some kind of normality. That brings hope, but also a realisation that this process may not be as simple as it might look.

There has been a great deal of discussion about shops, theatres, cinemas, football stadia and – yes – pubs, but what might an easing of restrictions mean for or places of worship, ceremony and prayer? For millions of citizens, people in every community in the land and every street in the capital places of faith and belief are at the core of their identity in a way that places of entertainment are not. For them this is a critical question.

There can be no ambiguity in our commitment, together, to avoid a resurgence of the spread of infection, with all its terrible consequences. Yet we must think now about how to begin a progressive reopening of places of worship and ceremony as soon as possible as it becomes safe to do so. These places are central to spiritual resilience and to the recovery which is now needed from bereavement loss and pain.

In addition to synagogues and mosques, churches and temples, many faiths conduct significant parts of their worshipping life in the home. Faith and belief communities include those who may not encompass either God or worship in the conventional sense, but who do recognise places of ceremony which are not within specific or recognised buildings. What, then, does a gradual lifting of lockdown look like for variety of places which must be encompassed in our thinking?

I don’t have the answers and I’m not privy to any speculation, accurate or otherwise, about any future Government policy on this matter. As Chair of the Faith and Belief Cell for London’s Strategic Coordination Group, I am privileged to hear the views and concerns of multiple faiths and beliefs on these issues. We share considerations about how we should approach potential changes to our usual ways of performing ceremonies, to our traditions and to maintenance of our spaces as we each try to feel our way forward in this new and unknown territory.

If the assumption that there may be phases to the reopening of civic life is reasonable, I think we could consider three levels of possible opening, mirroring what the Church of England has said:

• a first stage in which we can allow individuals, in a managed way and in accordance with social distancing guidance, to come into our buildings and spaces for private prayer once again (recognising that private prayer is not a concept shared by all faith and belief systems).

• a second stage is for the opportunity for limited ceremonies to take place in religious buildings. The letter this week from Members of Parliament to the Church of England calling for funerals to take place in churches leaps directly to this stage. Whilst this example is, perhaps, premature, we do need to think about how we can offer funerals, limited attendance weddings and other ‘life cycle’ moments such as baptisms, bar and bat mitzvahs and so on.

• thirdly, there would be a resumption of more formal worship and liturgy, still in accordance with social distancing guidelines.

If an easing of restrictions were to come, we all know that a second wave of infection would lead us back to the previous set of restrictions once again and we need to be aware that what we do might need to be reversible. 

As Government considers how to revive the economy, we must also revive hearts and souls. Alongside, nay, in advance, of any forthcoming guidance about shops, garden centres, gyms and playgrounds, we would all welcome clear and thoughtful minimum standards for faith and belief communities to keep us as safe as is reasonably possible as we open up again. Only by doing so will we offer recovery to our lives. For human beings are not simply bundles of material or physical needs, and only by attention to the deep things of mind, body and spirit will we be truly healed.