Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown have been important challenges for the society worldwide. In Russia, in circumstances of permanent fear, religious communities and their attitudes toward lockdown have become serious matters for the rest of society. Individuals, groups, and media have accused religious communities of creating danger for society by not following anti-epidemic measures. We investigated the perception of Russian Orthodox Christian communities’ attitude toward the lockdown in the secular milieu, and in the Orthodox-Christian milieu. We conducted the study from March to May of 2020, the first two months of lockdown in Russia. We analyzed Russian-speaking media-resources about the believers’ attitude during the spring 2020 lockdown; comments posted in social media groups; and interviews with clergymen. In all of these sources we searched for information about how believers/secular representatives evaluated the danger of COVID-19, their attitudes toward lockdown, and how they described the actions of other believers/secular authorities. The results of the study consist in the distinguishing two main narratives. The “secular” narrative represents the believers as one homogenous group. The second, “inner-church”, has three different forms: the “Christianization” of the lockdown, temporary loyalty to lockdown measures, and protesting against the lockdown in religious institutions. In the circumstances of social alarm provoked by the COVID-19 lockdown, members of religious communities have created different social strategies regarding how they should perceive lockdown and the situation around COVID-19.
Presenters
Liubov KlepikovaAssociate Professor, Philosophy, Russian University of Transport, Russian Federation
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
Lockdown, COVID-19, Security, Secularization, Religiosity, Society
