Social Distance, Digital Congregation: British Ritual Innovation under COVID-19

宗教仪式确实起到了作用，根据仪式理论家和英国政府的说法，宗教仪式确实起到了作用，这是基本的社会工作。在新冠肺炎疫情期间，英国政府已经承认神职人员是关键工作者。葬礼、婚礼、出生仪式和节日庆典对人们的心理健康和社区意识至关重要，特别是考虑到大流行造成的不安。但神职人员从事这项重要工作的关键手段-现场公共仪式-在封锁条件下是不可能的。因此，仪式专家被迫即兴制定将仪式转移到网上的方法，这几乎是大多数主流神职人员都不知道的。由于这些即兴创新是由忙于修行的神职人员迅速完成的，他们之间几乎没有协调，因此没有系统或详细地收集或研究这些创新。因此，在疫情结束后很长一段时间内，这些创新的全部影响都没有得到充分的考虑，也没有以有利于所有信仰的英国人福祉的方式进行开发。这个项目将填补这一空白。它将与英国各地不同信仰的宗教专业人士合作，利用数字引领的方法，捕捉、分析、培育和开发这些由火焰锻造的创新及其带来的可能性，这些方法来自数字宗教、在线宗教和行为研究，包括让受试者参与行动研究。这些调查结果将被广泛和方便地分享，以造福于实地。他们还将在学术上为正在进行的关于数字文化时代宗教和仪式实践变化的讨论做出贡献。

Religious rituals do work, essential social work, according to both ritual theorists and the UK government, which has recognized clergy as key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funerals, weddings, birth rituals, and holiday observances are vital to people's psychological wellbeing and sense of community, especially given the sense of unease created by the pandemic. But the key means by which clergy do this vital work-live communal ritual-is not possible during lockdown conditions. And so ritual specialists have been forced to improvise means of moving rituals online, something which is virtually unknown to most mainstream clergy. Because these improvised innovations are being done quickly by busy practicing clergy with little co-ordination between them, they are not being collected or studied in a systematic or detailed way. The full implications of these innovations are thus not being adequately considered or developed in ways that could be beneficial for the wellbeing of Britons of all faiths long after the pandemic is over.This project will fill that gap. It will work with religious professionals of a range of faiths from across Britain to capture, analyse, nurture and develop these fire-forged innovations and the possibilities they facilitate, using digitally-led methods drawn from digital religion, online religion and performance studies, including involving subjects in action research. These findings will be shared broadly and accessibly for the benefit of the field. They will also contribute academically to ongoing discussions of the changing practices of religion and ritual in the era of digital culture.