March 24, 2020 - Toxic

I received a message yesterday that was one of those things people pass around like a chain letter. The message was that we are afflicted with this COVID-19 pandemic now because we have told God to get out of our business. And so our loving God, who is a “gentleman,” in the words of this message, politely withdrew. We must understand, the message said, that we have brought this on ourselves by pushing God out of our schools and our government. We have brought this on ourselves, the message said, because Dr. Spock told us not to spank our children anymore.

Pass this on if you dare, the message taunted. If you’re not too embarrassed to share a message of God with your friends, then pass it on. If you think this message has any merit, then pass it on. 

I don’t think the message has any merit. In fact, I think the message is destructive. It is not original, however. I have heard these bitter cries many times before, that everything we don’t like, or everything that makes us afraid, is happening because we have “pushed God out of our schools.” The message, like too many others I have heard, paints all our children as raging devils, without consciences, breaking every commandment in the book. Apparently because they weren’t spanked as children. And this is why, the messenger says, we are now afflicted with COVID-19.

I reject this kind of manipulative religion. It is based on a sense of discontent with the way things are, looking for someone or something to blame. In this case, Madalyn Murray O’Hare and Dr. Spock. And the First Amendment of our Constitution.

To me, this doesn’t make any more sense than Pat Robertson blaming feminists and gays for 9/11. As a rule, it is always some group that has nothing to do with you that you blame for the problems of the world.

This is toxic religion. It encourages people to be afraid and angry. It encourages us to look for sin among some “other” group, instead of looking at ourselves. And when people of faith do that, we are actually making the world a worse place.

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and ignore the log in your own eye?” Jesus challenges his followers to practice humility. to practice self-awareness. to practice love for our neighbors.

And if we follow his guidance, we will see the world more clearly, and our own contributions to both the good and the evil that is in it.

May you see the world through God’s eyes. May you always deal with compassion.