Thursday, June 25, 2020

Covid Christians



The man-made Coronavirus disaster in this country is much bigger than simply saying "Trump is trying to kill us." That's not analysis or anything constructive. It's a defeatist concluding statement.

The preventable and predictable response to coronavirus is based in this dangerous Evangelical self-help notion that bad things only happen to bad people and -if you are good- you will get God's favor. It is why working class and middle-class whites continue to vote against their own interests...b/c uniting with their own would be to acknowledge that they have failed as Christians or perhaps Evangelical Christianity has failed them: tithing isn't going to lift them from poverty in a capitalist system. It's the reason why they say 'pray away the gay' and good Christians fathers and mothers drive many children to suicide: because gayness is wrong and it must mean one is not trying hard enough in prayer. It's why evangelicals don't believe in global warming: natural disasters are a sign of God's disfavor, not science. It's why so many Evangelicals are rejecting vaccines, chemotherapy, wearing a mask, logic. And yes, even racism. Granted a lot of them are racists, but they simply don't believe in addressing systemic problems with government answers. Many have their own underlying bigotry but there's also an automatic trained reaction when they see a black person dying...'well, what did they do wrong? This just proves you must have been a thug.' It's the question they ask when they fall behind in the rat race, see their retirement shrinking, watch opportunities go away. And rich white people LOVE this answer. It's this trained belief of 'bad things happen to bad people' that prevents Evangelicals from rising up and becoming the most powerful political force for change in this country...because all you need is sunny optimism and faith.

This chart is a result of that delusion. And Trump is actually a proponent of this system. He was trained by some of the most successful self-help Chrisitian delusionials. His solution is perfectly logical at the start of this crisis: it's a hoax, not real, I'm going to under-prepare and continue to cheerlead by faith. Science, socialism, medicine, environmentalism, big government are all atheist signs of evil. That's why we had white mothers and fathers raving at Palm Beach city meeting about refusing to wear a mask. The big gov requirement strikes at the very core of their delusion. 

Jesus isn't an air filter. Jesus isn't a 'get-rich' financial planner, a doctor, nor a government leader. Jesus had no interests in these things or flattening the curve. He was a spiritual leader. Our responsibility as humans is two folds: to spiritual enlightenment AND to the reality of being in a material world. Using science, government, logic and all the tools if discernment is our responsibility...and it's the very thing rich and powerful ppl don't want you to use. 

The curve stays unflattened. The wave continues to rise. People stay stuck, sick, disempowered, angry at themselves, and dying from a false belief. 

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