By Bill Mefford
A recent article in The Atlantic noted how badly many evangelicals in particular are responding to COVID 19, especially those leaders who are claiming that COVID 19 is the result of God’s judgment.
Recently, I have engaged with evangelical “Christians.” I put the term “Christian” in quotations because I am convinced they are evangelicals, but I am not convinced they are all following Jesus. And before I get accusations of judgment hurled at me, let me just say I should probably do the same thing for a few liberal “Christians.” But to be fair, there are far more evangelicals with quotations around the word “Christian” than there are liberals.
In my engagement with evangelicals online I have come away noting one very stark reality: very, very few evangelicals are biblically literate. In one memorable interaction I was told that serving and loving the poor and marginalized had no impact on one’s eternal destiny. Instead, your eternal destiny was entirely determined by whether or not you had accepted Jesus as your personal Savior. I actually have done this, but when I asked for biblical evidence to support this they said they refused to get into a biblical argument with me and since I was being rude they did not want to discuss this with me any further.
Funny how when our identities and core beliefs are being challenged suddenly the tone of the person doing the challenging becomes threatening.
A recent article in The Atlantic points out that far too many evangelical leaders are struggling right now with what to do in response to COVID 19. I guess when compassion, sacrificial service, and unconditional love are not in your toolbox you go to what you do best – you blame others! You especially blame gay people. It’s a common and quite frankly overly-used ruse; whenever something bad is happening (thinking of AIDS, 9/11, and now COVID 19), throw the people you hate the most under the bus. This means the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and Muslims especially.
The rest of us – and by us I mean the entire world – usually just roll our eyes and move on. But I admit, evangelicals calling COVID 19 a plague from God actually surprised me this time. I mean, why would their god (little “g” on purpose) call down a plague when their boy is in the White House giving them everything their decrepit and shallow hearts can hope for? Think about it. Here are just a few things that come to mind that make evangelicals remain loyal to their leader:
He built the wall (ok, he didn’t really, at least not a lot of it, and it really isn’t a wall – just vertical slats – but hey, who said the love affair between trump and evangelicals was based on reality?)
He got everyone saying “Merry Christmas” again (again, I am not going for accuracy here)
He appointed A LOT of VERY conservative judges (many of whom in their confirmation hearings refused to say Brown vs. Board of Education was settled law)
He repeatedly opts for privatization instead of more reliable and accessible public services (take note the supply of PPE and access to ventilators has been guided by corporate profits instead of hospital needs)
He LOVES lying about being persecuted (no one, and I mean no one, feels more persecuted than evangelicals – except for donald trump their beloved dictator).
And there is so much more! trump is the evangelical dream come true and he is riding the broken down evangelical horse all the way to November. Frankly, they are all he’s got. So, this is why I do not really get calling COVID 19 a plague sent by God. What is God judging when your boy is giving you everything you want?
Liberals tend to do the long slow eye roll when evangelicals bring up plagues, but plagues are a common occurrence in the Bible. God used plagues dozens of times throughout Scripture. Of course, the plagues in Exodus used against the Pharaoh come to mind immediately, but plagues were mentioned dozens of times and are included in John’s dream in Revelation.
But what is so interesting – at least to me – is that the mention of plagues in the Bible were done because people turned away from God and this act of turning towards sin was overwhelmingly most readily seen in peoples’ treatment of the poorest and most vulnerable people. In Exodus, the Pharaoh was enslaving people, terrorizing them, refusing to honor their work, and refusing Moses’ entreaties to set them free. Hmmm, I wonder if donald trump or his administration has ever terrorized people (immigrants, Muslims) or refused to honor workers (far too many groups to recount). Yes, I am being sarcastic.
God’s judgment – whether God uses plagues or not – is most often handed down when nations turn away from compassion and opt for cruelty. And the one thing this current administration is known for more than their complete incompetence and inability to plan for or effectively respond to this pandemic, is their love of cruelty. Their treatment of immigrants, refugees, those who belong to minority religions, the poor, workers, those who rely on crucial social services, and other vulnerable groups is certainly deserving of biblical judgment.
But no, this is not a plague from God. God is a loving God, not wanting anyone to perish. But when I hear evangelicals ridiculously call for an end to stay-at-home orders, or to sacrifice the elderly for a strong economy, and then decry the current state of the country as a plague from God, instead of rolling my eyes, I just try to stifle my laughter.