Tuesday's News & Ideas - 5/26/2020

Trump declares places of worship ‘essential,’ setting up standoff with governors
Religion News Service: President Donald Trump has unveiled new guidance classifying houses of worship as “essential services” and insisting that governors allow faith groups to worship despite the risk of furthering the spread of the novel coronavirus.

CDC publishes new pandemic guidance for religious worship
CNN: Religious institutions should provide soap and hand sanitizer, encourage the use of cloth masks and clean their facilities daily if they want to open while coronavirus is still spreading, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in newly released guidance Friday.

One German church service resulted in more than 100 coronavirus infections
Vox: It highlights the risks of allowing group events that can accelerate rapid spread of the virus.

California lays out pandemic rules for church reopenings
ABC News: California's churches, mosques and synagogue may get the nod to reopen their doors sooner than expected under new state guidelines.

US Muslims try to balance Eid rituals with virus concerns
Associated Press: Many Muslims in America are navigating balancing religious and social rituals with concerns over the virus as they look for ways to capture the Eid spirit this weekend.

The Spark

When the world went away, we made a new one
Leslie Jamison lost many things during the quarantine. But there can be an unexpected abundance inside a state of loss,* she writes in The New York Times. (trigger warning: alcoholism)

*access is limited for nonsubscribers

Want to get News & Ideas in your inbox every weekday?
Subscribe to our News & Ideas newsletter or receive our RSS feed in your RSS reader.