The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted religious communities worldwide, including the Bahá’í Faith, which is practiced at home gatherings and has no clergy or places of worship. Adapting to the pandemic, the community shifted their religious practices online, supporting their members. However, there is a lack of research on the impact of the pandemic on the Bahá’í Faith. To address this gap, a multi-cited ethnography was conducted in Ireland from 2021-2023, examining how the Bahá’í community adapted to the pandemic and practiced their faith in a digital age.
Based on a lived religion theory, the study explored how the Bahá’í community responded to the pandemic by adapting their faith practices. This approach focused on the experiences and practices of ordinary people in their religious lives rather than assuming an inherent incompatibility between religion and modernity. In addition, the study investigated how the Bahá’í community encountered and experienced their faith in different environments, including public and private, official and informal, and sacred, secular, and religiously 'neutral' settings.
The study aimed to shed light on the under-researched topic of the Bahá’í Faith and how the community creatively adapted to the pandemic, continuing to practice their faith meaningfully. The research also explored the relationship between religion and technology in the Bahá’í community and how the pandemic affected this relationship. In addition, the study examined the tension between local communities and the Global Bahá’í community.
Overall, this research contributes to the broader discussion on religions during the Covid-19 pandemic, exploring how the Bahá’í community adapted to the crisis and continued to practice their faith meaningfully. The study highlights the importance of considering the experiences and practices of ordinary people in their religious lives and the role of religion in supporting communities during times of crisis.
