The Bible, Quran, and COVID-19 Vaccines : Studies on Religion-based Vaccine Perceptions (Africa – Europe – Middle East)

Abstract

This volume of the BiAS/ ERA series chooses a multi-religious approach to the religio-cultural aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attempts to overcome it by vaccination. The book includes contributions focusing on African Traditional Religion, several branches of Christianity in Africa, and Islamic denominations. In contrast to other volumes, BiAS 37/ ERA 12 is not limited to a specific country – not even to the African continent. It gathers papers from the international and multi-religious workshop “COVID-19 and Religion” (November 2021, University of Bamberg) and some additional articles. The contributions to BiAS 37 focus on the vaccination debate. “Why should God, Scripture, and Church be against vaccination?” is the main question, and there are some indications that social and political factors that regulate the cultural application of religion might be more important for vaccinophobia than faith itself.