Resumen de The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the exercise of religion in the united kingdom
Frank Cranmer, David Pocklington
The paper traces the history of the UK and the devolved governments’ responses to the COVID-19 outbreak and, in particular, their impact on the exercise of religion and the responses of faith-communities. It discusses the legal and constitutional background and the implications for the right to manifest religion or belief under Article 9 ECHR. It looks at the impact on the practice of religion of the ‘lockdown’ restrictions on places of worship and personal contacts and at the attempts of government to accommodate them, at the responses of the major faith communities and at the various pieces of legislation and guidance as lockdown eased – and was tightened again in response to a second spike in infections. It concludes with some thoughts on how the situation might develop if and when the pandemic is brought to a close and suggests that there are constitutional questions to be asked, in particular, about the UK Government’s use of emergency powers to legislate without prior approval of Parliament.
