SOME churchgoers believe the coronavirus pandemic is a judgement from God, new research has revealed.
A report by Queen's University Belfast also found that inter-Church co-operation has been more "frequent and united" during the pandemic than any other time in Irish history.
Something Other than a Building: A Report on Churches on the Island of Ireland during the Covid-19 Pandemic, by Dr Gladys Ganiel from the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, involved 32 in-depth interviews with clergy from across Ireland and follows a survey of faith leaders published in 2020.
The study by Queen's and the Irish Council of Churches/ The Irish Inter Church Meeting examined how Churches have navigated the ongoing health crisis.
During interviews, a minority of clergy reported that "parishioners or congregants had floated the idea that the pandemic was God’s judgement for sin".
"Specific sins mentioned included the relaxation of laws on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and allowing pubs to open on Good Friday," the report said.
"These ideas were present both north and south of the border, and among both Catholics and Protestants."
The research confirmed that none of the ministers spoken to agreed with this perspective, although a "Presbyterian clergyman in the north said he 'wouldn’t be totally unopen' to the idea of God’s judgment, and a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God said the pandemic could be a sign of the ‘end times’."
Dr Ganiel said the report took its name from a remark made by a Presbyterian minister during her research.
The paper said "clergy reported a greater awareness among themselves and those in their parishes/congregations that church is ‘something other than a building’.
"For them, this meant greater awareness that people should live out their faith ‘outside the four walls’ of the church, serving others and the common good.
"It also meant a more engaged and involved laity."
The report confirmed that most clergy who expressed these views "had believed that the churches needed to change to become ‘something other than a building’ prior to the pandemic.
"For them, the pandemic seemed to be an opportunity for this lesson to be learned more widely – and possibly a catalyst for accelerating this type of change within the churches."
Dr Ganiel said: “New findings include a range of perspectives on how God may be working during the pandemic, with a strong emphasis on God coming alongside us during the pandemic, as well as evidence that some people are asking whether the pandemic is God’s judgement.
"The interviews also revealed shifting understandings of what it means to ‘be church’, prioritising the role of lay volunteers and moving faith outside the walls of church buildings."
