SAUDI ARABIA: Celebrations for Eid al-Adha, the Muslim “feast of sacrifice,” began on Thursday amid a surge of coronavirus cases in the Middle East. Mosques are widely closed and many countries are restricting in-home gatherings.

We Protestants often approach the “sacred spaces” of worship a little conflicted. The Reformers prioritized the inner life of the believer over the outward rituals of the faith. They replaced the altar with the communion table, and gathered in caves when the religious authorities hunted them down.

My own church meets in a school gymnasium, and some of the most vibrant congregations I know gather in concert halls, libraries, and other repurposed venues.

TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited prayers on Friday from Hagia Sophia, officially opening again as a mosque the 900-year-old church that authorities a century ago had turned into a museum.

SYRIA: Parents of four Americans killed by Islamic State (ISIS) are demanding the Trump administration transfer to the United States two surviving ISIS leaders to face trial.

FRANCE: Police say arson likely caused the fire at the 15th-century cathedral in Nantes on Saturday that engulfed the Gothic structure’s interior. The fire comes just over a year after the Notre Dame blaze in Paris.

AFGHANISTAN: The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that it has closed five military bases and reduced the size of its troops stationed in the region to 8,600 as part of an agreement reached with the Taliban in February. The Afghan government, which was not a part of the talks leading to the agreement, has begun phased release of Taliban prisoners under pressure from the Trump administration.

One worrying trend that persists in the midst of a pandemic: a refugee crisis rivaling any witnessed in modern history. An estimated 26 million people meet the formal definition of refugee, having fled their countries with a well-founded fear of persecution.