COVID-19 and Religion
The first recorded monotheist, Abraham, brazenly asked God, as part of the famous bargaining segment recorded in the Bible made on behalf of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, whether the Ultimate Judge will do justice? The current pandemic – especially if you subscribe to the belief that it is a form of Divine punishment - proves that He doesn’t or can’t. Or, perhaps, God doesn’t exist.
No one has discerned a pattern to who is being punished or as to why. Individuals who have been afflicted with the disease cannot be generalized as atheists, or as blasphemers, or as members of the LGBTQ community, or as non-churchgoers. The pandemic disproportionately affects the elderly, minorities, and those compromised with other health issues - the very prospects that have a predilection for a belief in a supernatural Deity. Theocratic states, such as Iran, and atheistic countries, such as China, and every country in between these two extremes has been affected. To make that query today, the exact question asked by Abraham, seems silly and cruel.
Historically, the vision promoted by Abraham (the reputed founder of all three Western faiths) made sense when the world became bigger and more complex. As our world began to change, the endearing faith of “pagan” beliefs - where gods cared little about human morality as long as they were respected, appeased, and taken care of – it made sense to promote the idea of a different kind of God. The notion promulgated – commonly referred to as “the eye in the sky” – postulated that God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. What was needed was to be governed by an invisible policeman who promoted law and order, a belief in universal justice and individual justice. This belief has led to several changes in human behavior. The most notable was that it solicited benevolence, at least to those of the same sect, to be Divinely repaid posthumously in Heaven (so far, unproven).
But this pattern of societies getting larger, more complex and the attendant need for a larger governing body to establish justice is long gone. First, because it is statistically unverifiable. Is there a moral difference between the billionaires and the beggars that would explain why the latter are more likely to be afflicted in the pandemic, not only physically but scarred emotionally? Very often a good person dies young or lives in abject poverty; in contrast, the wicked often live in splendor or die of old age surrounded by family and friends. Only in religious thought is there the concept of a decent poverty and a “good” death.
Secondly, we now live in a global community. We are getting smaller, more linked, not more distant. We are interconnected in many ways (social media, the global economy, etc.) We share information on those afflicted by the pandemic. There is no address (sorry, President Trump) for the current virus contagion.
Lastly, we trust science more than theology. Other than the lunatic-fringe of fundamentalists is there anyone advocating acts of repentance, such as intermittent intense prayer or self-flagellation? We don masks, shelter-in-place, practice social distancing, and wash our hands repeatedly as recommended by professional virologists. While the two – religion and the quarantine aspect of the virus – may not be diametrically opposites, they do reach us from opposite positions: the need for universality and the need to remain (if we are to be legally compliant) in self-contained environments. We have made a choice. We elect to self-isolate over communal prayers and other public religious obligations.
Is there a Divine message in this virus? If there is a religious message, it is to teach us that humans are not in total control. If there is a lesson, it is this: the world is a chaotic, messy place. We live in a world that is more comparable to a bustling kitchen of a large restaurant than to the refined, subdued, and orderly dining hall adjoining it. Unlike Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, who was taught this lesson because the plagues where demonstratively brought by God (though administered by Moses, and his older brother, Aaron), we prefer to look for non-supernatural culprits – God is excluded from this research. Almost as important, it was humans, who have conquered every virus in the past (the measles, tuberculosis, polio, and other illnesses that come to mind), not God.
We live in a universe where the paradigm is a virus that has a pattern known to anyone who has thrown confetti in a gale of wind, while aiming to hit a specific spectator. The current pandemic teaches us that life is unpredictable; it highlights the randomness of life. Perhaps there is no god, after all.