Evangelicals and masks

 December 2020:

 

Today, I talked with an Evangelical about wearing masks at large church gatherings.

As everyone knows, it’s primarily rural Evangelical conservatives who have been resistant to things like wearing masks, staying home whenever possible, attending church and family events via Zoom rather than in person, and other precautions that the rest of us are taking. Not all rural Evangelical conservatives are like this; but it seems that just about all the people like this are rural Evangelical conservatives.

 

And honestly, this is a pretty reasonable and intelligent person who seems to understand that COVID-19 is real, and it’s dangerous. Someone who has honestly tried their best to wear masks but finds it triggers crippling panic attacks for them, and hates that but can’t overcome it. Someone who has missed some really important life events this year because they couldn’t wear a mask. And they listed a number of precautions that both they and the church are taking to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread… disinfecting, distancing, changing the arrangement of the room to create more space between families, cancelling coffee hour, encouraging people to stop and ask before deciding whether to hug their friends.

But their church isn’t mandating masks, and this person isn’t wearing one.

 

And a few of the things they said struck me as deeply ironic.

 

One was that their church’s stance is “Your body, your choice”. Coming from such a virulently anti-choice group as the Evangelical church, it was difficult to keep a straight face when they unironically used that long-time pro-choice slogan.

 

Another was “We refuse to live in fear”.

The same people who raise their children to be terrified that any mistake they make could lead to eternal torment, or that they might be left behind in the Rapture and subject to all kinds of horrors right here on Earth, or that if the Democrats win an election they will be persecuted for their faith, or that every gay or trans person is a sex offender waiting for an opportunity… are “refusing to live in fear”.

Like, no one asked them to be afraid. We asked them to take appropriate precautions to reduce the number of deaths. And a lot of them have refused.

 

A third was “We don’t want to shame people for their choices, whether they choose to wear a mask or not.”

And, in a way, they’re not wrong – shame is not an effective tool for long-term behavior change. (See “calling Trump voters stupid and evil” for reference. Changed a lot of their minds, right? Got them all to vote against him this year, didn’t it? No? Maybe it wasn’t the most effective method, then?)

However:

I grew up Evangelical, went to an Evangelical elementary school, listened to and played Evangelical music, spent every moment I could at my Evangelical youth group, played in the orchestra at my Evangelical church, went on over a dozen mission trips to try and convert other people to Evangelicalism, went to the most prestigious (read: expensive) Evangelical college in the country, seriously considered becoming an Evangelical pastor. I Evangelicaled as hard as any Evangelical has ever Evangelicaled, from early childhood until a couple years after graduating from that Evangelical college.

So I can tell you for a fact:

 

Evangelical churches do nothing BUT shame people for their choices.

 

Have a drink? You’re a drunkard.

Have sex? You’re a slut.

THINK about having sex? You’re just as guilty as if you’d actually committed adultery. (Which is fine if your last name is Falwell or Trump, apparently, but not for the rest of us).

Have sex with someone whose genitals look like yours? Absolutely going to hell, for perverting God’s great gift of human sexuality. (And if you’re gay then you’re probably a child molester, too, just waiting for an opportunity.)

Have an abortion? You’re a murderer.

Listen to any music that isn’t specifically marketed as “Christian”? You’re participating in devil worship, or tarnishing your soul by filling your mind with impure thoughts.

Go trick or treating? You’re celebrating the Devil’s holiday.

Play poker for pennies? Definitely on the road to damnation – trusting to luck instead of God, and trying to make money for nothing rather than through honest work as God intended.

You should feel all-consuming guilt for these horrifying sins, and the only hope you have is to repent and trust in the Blood to wash away your infinite guilt.

And you’d better be here at church every Sunday morning and evening, and every Wednesday evening, and every holiday, and prepared to tithe, otherwise you’re in danger of backsliding into those evil ways.

This is one of the biggest reasons I’m not an Evangelical anymore. Who wants to be shamed for everything they do? Who wants to be part of a group that does that to other people?

I understand why Evangelicals feel that those things are sinful, because I’ve read the Bible cover to cover, multiple times, and did so with an Evangelical’s literalist mindset for many years. One thing I just don’t understand, though:

All these other choices harm absolutely no one. Or, even if the Evangelicals are right, they harm only the “sinner” who makes the choice (and, in the case of abortion, the “sinner’s” unborn child).

Choosing not to wear a mask, on the other hand, endangers the health and safety of everyone around the person who makes that choice.

Why do they feel such a sense of urgency about changing all those other behaviors, and such a willingness to shame anyone who won’t change, but no urgency at all about changing the one behavior that, at this time, is the most important way we can love our neighbors as ourselves? Why are their priorities around behavior change so backwards?

Why do so many Evangelicals strain at all these gnats, but swallow this camel?

 

And then, perhaps the most ironic statement:

“People shouldn’t be forced to choose between practicing their faith and obeying the law”.

Never mind that if the things Evangelicals believe were actually true – if they really could lay hands on the sick and heal them with a word – then we wouldn’t have a pandemic in the first place.

Let’s put that aside, and talk about what Jesus consistently said that it really means to practice the Christian faith.

It’s about loving others enough to make sacrifices for their sake. Even people you don’t know. Even people you don’t like. Even your enemies.

It means being willing to give up your own comfort, your own desires, your own needs, even your own life, in order to help and save others. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Do not pass by on the other side of the road – be the good Samaritan, not the good priest or Levite, and put yourself to trouble and danger to help those in trouble and danger. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus to lay down everything, even life itself if necessary, for the benefit of others. Even if they’re ungrateful for, or unaware of, your sacrifice.

And yet, apparently, that Agape love doesn’t stretch far enough to compel many Evangelicals to wear a piece of cloth over their face so they can reduce the risk of KILLING PEOPLE BY SLOW SUFFOCATION.

I was the most Evangelical Evangelical ever, and I still can’t begin to fathom how they got here.

 

Again, I know that shame is not an effective way to change behavior, and I’m not trying to shame Evangelicals who think masks should be optional rather than required.

But I would like the anti-mask subset of Evangelicals to either make this make sense, or realize that maybe it DOESN’T make sense.

Postscript, July 2021:

Jesus fucking Christ. I asked the same person whether they were fully vaccinated, and they actually said the words “I will not wear a Jewish star”. This person legit thinks that being asked whether they have taken the necessary precautions against getting or spreading a deadly plague, is the same as being imprisoned in a ghetto by the Nazis.

How did they get even MORE crazy over the past six months?