I’m a great fan of a magical sense of awe, that heightened state of awareness during which the transcendent feels most palpable. However, I am decidedly not a fan of magical thinking that denies the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic.
I consider the latter delusional at best. The pandemic will not end because some — particularly those in positions of authority — wish it away. It can only be tamed, I believe, by limiting its spread until medical researchers develop a dependable vaccine or cure.
Until then, our responsibility as members of a highly interdependent society is to protect ourselves and each other via responsible social distancing and by always wearing a mask when adequate distancing is impossible. Anything less, in my book — speaking as someone who due to age and preexisting medical conditions is at great risk — is selfish and irresponsible.
Nor do I care whether the deniers are bikers in South Dakota, frat boys on any number of university campuses who can’t resist a keg or political libertarians who insist that their individual choices are at least as, if not more, important than the communal good in a national health emergency.
Ditto for the most sincerely devout of fatalistic religious believers who think their faith will protect them and their co-religionists. Or who insist that government — any secular government — lacks the authority to limit their religious expression in any way.
My news feeds have been replete with such examples. Here are three that have particularly aroused my pique. I consider each a clear example of self-aggrandizing, potentially deadly religious entitlement.
One story is from Israel and concerns a group of ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews who have insisted on making their annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to a Ukrainian city where their deceased spiritual leader is buried. This, despite the probability that they’re likely to bring the pandemic with them.
A second from, South Korea, tells the tale of a megachurch that found itself at the center of a coronavirus cluster, which it blames on misleading figures released by government opponents.
The third involves the Rev. John MacArthur of Los Angeles’ Grace Community Church, who recently claimed that the number of American COVID-19 deaths is way below the generally accepted figures reported by mainstream news outlets. MacArthur claimed that there is no pandemic.
In reverse order, here’s a bit more on each of the stories.
MacArthur’s tale was recounted in this recent Religion News Service story. It began:
This past Sunday (Aug. 30) John MacArthur, the senior pastor of Los Angeles’ Grace Community Church, made a startling statement. “There is no pandemic,” he said.
His proof? A recent Centers for Disease Control report that only 6% of U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19 listed the virus as the only cause of death; the remaining 94% listed additional underlying health conditions known as “co-morbidities.”
In fact, it’s wrong.
As of Monday [Aug. 31], 6 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19 — including 700,000 Californians — and an estimated 184,000 Americans have died from it. When recording the reasons for a patient’s death, doctors list all factors leading to the person’s demise — but the virus remains the main reason they died.
Moving on to South Korea, this is from The New York Times:
SEOUL, South Korea — For months, the red-brick church in a rundown neighborhood of Seoul, the South Korean capital, has attracted thousands of politically active conservative Christians, all united in the belief that their country is falling into a godless communist hell under the leadership of its liberal president, Moon Jae-in.
Devotees of the church, known as the Sarang Jeil Church, whose name means “love comes first,” have participated in some of the largest anti-government demonstrations the country has seen in years. …
Now their political crusade is colliding with the coronavirus, as a large outbreak centered on the church spreads fast through Seoul and beyond, threatening the country’s success in fighting the pandemic.
Lastly, there’s this story about (mostly) Breslov Hasidic Jews from Israel and their insistence on making their annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the Ukrainian city of Uman, where their deceased spiritual leader lived and is buried.
This, despite the Ukrainian government closing its borders to the pilgrims out of fear of spreading coronavirus, non-Jewish Uman locals angered by the pilgrims’ presence getting into fights with them, and Israel, from where most of the Hasidic Jews come, currently in the midst of its worst pandemic outbreak of the year.
Here are two pieces, the first quite critical of the Uman pilgrims, and the second a solid backgrounder on the situation.
Let me be clear: I understand that the three examples I’ve cited here all concern conservative religious groups. I know that opens me to criticism from those readers who might say I’m blinded by my admittedly liberal political bias.
However, I know of no liberal religious groups acting similarly. Readers: If any of you do, I’d be grateful if you noted them in the comments section below. And, yes, I do know that there are, in fact, small congregations, conservative or otherwise, required — by the U.S. Supreme Court — to work under stricter coronavirus restrictions than giant Nevada casinos.
I also get that my liberal theological leanings further open me to criticism of the sort that I can’t possibly understand the deep feeling of trust in God’s divine plan. Or the deeply human need to express it in communion with like-minded believers, such as my examples describe. Of the extraordinary importance to group cohesion that these practices embody.
Or in the case of Grace Community Church, that we are talking about limitations on the cherished religious freedoms guarded by the First Amendment.
I think I do understand these traditionalist beliefs, as well as the First Amendment’s intent. This is not my first rodeo, folks.
But this is different. The coronavirus pandemic — the end of which is no where in sight— means that, at least for now, we live in a radically altered world. It’s one in which our communal ties and responsibilities are being tested to a unique degree.
It saddens and frightens me that our responses to the pandemic have been sucked into a politically charged culture war. That face masks prescribed by medical experts have become a partisan issue.
Everything, to varying degrees, has changed because of our communal health needs, affecting everything from protest marches to ancient rites and traditions. In such a life-and-death environment, religious practice must adapt.
Simply put, COVID-19 cares nothing for our human beliefs, religious or otherwise. Bad things do indeed happen even to good people.
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