Mask Mandates Unmask a “Christian Nation”

(I know that some will insist this is more political than Christian. But the thrust of the argument is aimed at Christians who shun the very things that we say are the foundations of our faith.)

Jayson D Bradley writes a blog called “Honest to God” at Patheos. In mid-May, 2020, he took on the Christian Nation myth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read his post here (assuming it is still active at Patheos).

Like Bradley, I have noticed how many of the people I know through church, both current and prior affiliation, are more concerned with their “rights” as Americans than they are the commandments of the God that they claim to follow as part of a “higher calling.” Parts of this higher calling are to follow, to love all, and to become servants to others — many distinctive actions that seem to always put someone else ahead of ourselves.

I realize that we are now in a reduced state of alert with respect to the pandemic, but so many Christians — and especially their leaders — should be ashamed of their actions during the height of it. As the nation suddenly shut down in March 2020, I listened as the leaders of too many churches thumbed their noses at the mandates and opened their doors, ignoring at least part of the capacity, space, and activity restrictions. Included in Bradley’s post are the following four paragraphs that say it much better than I can:

Christians sum up Jesus’ words here with the phrase “dying to self.” They love the term and use it often. But for the most part, it’s a poetic abstraction, a form of spiritual idealism. It’s a difficult conviction to hold when your cultural ethos focuses on your individual right to pursue happiness.

. . . .

In a culture and economy that operates on consumption and acquisition, it’s difficult to convince Christians to renounce anything. In fact, quite often when American Christians are asked to give up something for the sake of others; it’s interpreted as persecution.

. . . .

We like to identify ourselves as a Christian nation, a city on a hill. But think about it a minute. What is it that separates America from every other nation on earth? We’ve become an epicenter for a disease that has killed more than 80,000 [now over one million] of our fellow citizens. And we’re the only country that would rather go to war with our local government to protect our individual freedom than make sacrifices for the greater good.

It’s taken a pandemic to see the gulf between historic Christianity and its American counterpart. All it took was an expectation of community responsibility to tear off the mask and reveal its true face.

Yes, Reagan’s claim of a city set on a hill has turned out to be more like a virus bomb placed in the middle of Grand Central Station at rush hour. And leading the way are the anti-vaxxer, “I have my rights,” “you’re persecuting me” Christians — mostly of far-right leaning.

Bradley takes it further than just the pandemic and our response to it by pointing out how much those of the “Christian Nation” persuasion are willing to fight to protect their Constitution-given rights. (I refuse to give any pretense that these are “God given.”) Here is a little more of Bradley’s post:

Christianity in America is so entangled with patriotism and exceptionalism. When asked to shelter in place, Christians don’t think it’s odd to deck themselves out in G.I. Joe cosplay complete with AR-15s to storm a government building and demand their rights.

. . . .

But when asked to stay home, patriots have no problem grabbing their guns and defying orders. The mixture of Christianity and Americanism is a troubling tincture, enabling people to cite Romans 13 to get others to obey authority while they stock up weapons to fight off a potentially tyrannical government.

If the reference to getting others to obey is without context, the missing paragraphs between these two discuss the tendency to justify the shooting of an unarmed black person because they weren’t “obedient enough.” But somehow that doesn’t justify the arrest of anyone not obedient enough to wear their mask in a grocery store. Instead, it justifies the taking up of arms against that same authority.

So what is the command in the Bible” Is it “obey authorities,” or is it “resist authorities”? Remember that the people to which Jesus spoke, and those that Paul wrote to were under a tyrannical rule of a foreign power that had conquered all of the world that these people could see or know of. If there was ever a “right” to take up arms and resist, this was it . . . . But it wasn’t.

Don’t even pretend that just because we get to vote for the current authorities that we are the ultimate authority. That is a fantasy. Remember that in a 50.1% to 49.9% election outcome, virtually half of the people do not agree that they are the authority. And even if you voted for whoever wins, do not think that you have any right to demand how they legislate or otherwise attend to their office — until the next election when you have the right to vote for someone else.

But if we really understood the words of Jesus and the further interpretation of those words by Paul and others, we would not be having this conversation. The idea that we should take up “rights” like a weapon would be the farthest thing from our minds. The thought that we should force our way of thinking upon anyone would not exist. Instead, we would strive to serve everyone around us — even those we disagree with or consider illegal or unlawful. To take actions that demonstrate our care and love for them. Instead of increasing punishment for failing at the morality that we have signed on to, we would love them as and where they are.

And it should start by loving them enough to help protect them against the pandemic by obeying the authorities with respect to mask, distance, and vaccine mandates.