COLLEGE PARK, Maryland, United States — Each academic year, the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland offers a unique course that assists students to identify root causes of societal challenges in the light of spiritual principles, such as the elimination of all forms of prejudice, the equality of women and men, and consultation.

“Throughout college I took 35 classes, but this is the only one that changed the fundamentals of how I look at the world,” says Emily Gorey, a former student of the class.

“It was here that I learned how different the...

D. Anthony Alvarez ’21, a member of the Harvard Latter-day Saints Student Association, has attended religious services at the same congregation off campus since he arrived at Harvard as a freshman.

This semester, Alvarez said he still attends services at that same congregation. Amid Covid-19, though, he must sign up to attend ahead of time, don a mask, and eschew singing, which can spread infectious particles.

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For Menaka Kannan, it was bad enough when she heard that a fellow member of New York City’s Baha’i community had contracted the novel coronavirus. But she was not emotionally prepared for the news that came roughly a week later: He had succumbed to the infection and died.

“The news of his passing, of course, is very shocking,” she said.

As the community grappled with the grief, a lingering question arose: How do you conduct a funeral in the midst of a global pandemic, when a healing hug is now seen as a potential death sentence?

It’s a conundrum facing...