People of faith in the United States have been told since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that they cannot congregate in their churches, mosques, temples, or synagogues until the threat of the virus has passed.

It is simply too dangerous, our leaders say, for believers to meet as a body for worship and communal prayer. Churches were closed, barring Christians from celebrating Easter services as a community; mosques were shuttered, denying Muslims a gathering place for Ramadan; and Jewish prayer services, which require a quorum, “were broken up by city governments or banned by state executive orders,” as noted recently in the Wall Street Journal by author Abigail Shrier.