Sacred Soil, Cow Urine and other Rituals: People Turn to Religion to Deal with the Coronavirus

When science fails people's aspirations, they tend to turn to the mystical side of life. The lack of efficient drugs or vaccines to end the latest Coronavirus epidemic has driven people from different faiths to look for supernatural treatments.

In India, the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha organization held a special ceremony called "gaumutra" which stands for cow urine party during which members drank the Hindu ritual juice made of cow dung, urine, milk, curd, and ghee "panchagavya", hoping that it would help them fight the novel Coronavirus. 

Also, a Jewish online commentator found a very interesting connection between the 20th verse of the Torah, urging believers to wash their hands with water to stay safe, and the fact that the Coronavirus has spread globally during the year 2020,  concluding that the Torah has predicted the outbreak and provided the ultimate tip to avoid the deadly virus.

 As soon as the epidemic made it to the Middle East, Lebanon reported about 120 cases. Some Lebanese Christians circulated several stories of people being cured after consuming a drink combining water and "sacred" soil found at the grave of famous Maronite monk Mar Charbel. Among them were some who went as far as calling on officials at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital to admit amounts of the soil and use it to treat the infected.

Additionally, many Muslim clerics seem to agree that the COVID-19 outbreak is nothing but a sign signalling the end of times. An Iraqi Shiite Shiekh argued that "people should continue to spread the virus so that Al-Mahdi appears". 

According to some Islamic traditions, Al-Mahdi is supposed to appear "and rule the world for an unknown period of time ending the world's evil before the day of judgment".