‘Prohibiting people from worship and communal religious exercise is profoundly illiberal and illegitimate.’ Those are the words of the former EU Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Jan Figel. The Slovakian has launched a legal case against his own government at the European Court of Human Rights over its ban on churches meeting in person during the covid pandemic, arguing the bans on worship were ‘unfair and disproportionate’.

While the closure of churches by force of law was controversial at the time, as the pandemic has receded they have become even more contentious. Was it fair and proportionate to make believers worship online rather than in person? Does any government have the right in a free society to prevent people from practising their faith? Or was the truly Christian path to step back from physical gatherings out of love for our neighbours and desire to protect vulnerable congregants from a deadly virus?

This week we’re joined by Emma Fowle and Megan Cornwell from Premier Christianity magazine to reconsider the pandemic-era closure of churches and discuss what, if any, precedents may have been set around religious liberty and balancing competing rights during those unprecedented times.