Faith communities are uniquely situated to positively and negatively influence the success of Queensland’s’ COVID-19 responses in three areas: faith communities and places of worship, vulnerable groups in society, and community services. To this end, the Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University brought faith communities together to discover – and report to the Queensland Government – the concerns and needs highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This report outlines key issues facing faith communities in Queensland during the COVID-19 pandemic as reported from the communities themselves. The methods and findings of the project support improving connections between faith communities and state leadership for sharing lessons learned, improving support for vulnerable groups, and ensuring key health messaging is communicated to strengthen public safety.
The Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University acted as a link to faith communities, helping to facilitate connections between faith groups to identify issues and opportunities via:
- a. a questionnaire distributed from 14-27 April 2020, and
- b. an online Community Forum on 28 April 2020.