(CNN)To gather or not to gather has been the question at the forefront of the minds of today's religious leaders and their church members.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic that ultimately killed 50 million to 100 million people, different answers to that same question resulted in either collective well-being or widespread, devastating loss.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, religious institutions worldwide closed their doors to save lives.
The US Supreme Court recently decided 5-4 to grant religious organizations in New York state relief from restrictions on the number of people attending religious services. In light of this development, looking back a century can offer guidance for religious institutions deciding to stay shuttered or reopen.
Self-inflicted decimation
In 1918, many churches around the world closed their doors to save lives. Without financial support, some churches eventually closed permanently, while others survived with dropped-off donations and serving as hospitals instead of sanctuaries. For some families, the home became the altar.
Those who refused to adapt to the pandemic reaped the consequences.
"Churchless" Sundays left towns quiet in 1918.
In Zamora, Spain, "mass gatherings were positively encouraged — and at 3 per cent, or more than twice the national average, Zamora had the highest death rate of any city in Spain," wrote science journalist Laura Spinney in her book "Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World."
In September, a local bishop rebelled against health authorities by ordering evening prayers for nine days "in honour of St. Rocco, the patron saint of plague and pestilence, because the evil that had befallen Zamoranos was 'due to our sins and ingratitude, for which the avenging arm of eternal justice has been brought down upon us,' " Spinney wrote.