Are we even talking about the same religion here?

As COVID deaths were skyrocketing in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, overwhelming local hospitals, Samaritan’s Purse (SP) – the Christian relief ministry headed by Franklin Graham – airlifted an emergency field hospital to Cremona, Italy. Staffed with both SP workers and emergency medical volunteers, the 14-tent 68-patient field hospital arrived on March 17 and began taking patients by March 20. It has been in continuous operation since.

America was to be next. On April 1 in New York’s Central Park, Samaritan’s Purse erected and ran an emergency field hospital to care for overflow patients from Mt. Sinai hospital. Volunteer physicians, nurses, and ancillary personnel stepped forward, risking their lives to care for victims of a rampant epidemic. By April 17, SP had admitted and cared for more than 130 patients. Courage in the face of danger is just another day’s work for SP, who heroically helped shepherd Liberia through the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak.

Meanwhile, an obscure independent Louisiana pastor defiantly held Easter Sunday services attended – he claimed – by 1,220 churchgoers (though the true number was probably much lower) putting hundreds of lives at risk of illness and death.

In a more tragic case, blues musician and itinerant preacher Landon Spradlin died from COVID only weeks after dismissing it as “mass hysteria” and driving to New Orleans to preach the gospel during Mardi Gras. He fell gravely ill on the drive back home to Virginia. How could someone be so tragically wrong? The usual simplistic answers don’t really address the core issue. It wasn’t “science denial” – even excellent scientists can be fatally mistaken. It wasn’t his politics – when it comes to respecting the nationwide social distancing guidelines, there is scarcely any difference between Democrats and Republicans. It wasn’t the fault of Donald Trump, as one left-lurching acquaintance of Spradlin’s uncharitably alleged. Nor was it misinformation from the mainstream news media, although it could have been. In the runup to America’s COVID pandemic, many governments and institutions dropped the ball.

Intellectual pride and its consequences

The sad story of Leonard Spradlin points to a naïve yet ultimately fatal certainty: not in God, not in Scripture, neither in religious authorities nor in any public institution, but in himself. In that regard, he is us. The universal affliction of pride inclines everyone of us toward overconfidence in our own opinions. But no matter how sincerely and fervently we nurture a belief, our beliefs do not bind God. God’s opinions are not contingent upon our own. Just because we think it, doesn’t make it true.

Crises such as this can bring out both the best and worst in human behavior. Recent headlines have proclaimed:

• “Anti-vaxxers spread fear about future coronavirus vaccine”
• “COVID-19 blamed on Jews for not following Jesus”
• “Over 50 Cell Towers Vandalized in UK Du to 5G Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories”
• “Conspiracy theories blaming Bill Gates for the coronavirus pandemic are exploding online”
• “Iran knows who to blame for the virus: America and Israel“

We’ve previously seen how human credulity cuts across culture, ideology, intelligence, and education. Most of these “coronaspiracies” are completely secular in nature. The professing Christians highlighted here are extreme outliers even within conservative and Evangelical circles, but they crave the attention. Many within the media are more than happy to provide that attention. It confirms their own biases and helps to foster the false narrative that most Christians are anti-scientific bigots.

Spradlin hurt only himself and those he loved. Many secular actors have descended into criminality. In recent weeks, over fifty cell phone towers have been vandalized across the United Kingdom by fanatics consumed with the bizarre belief that 5G towers are causing COVID. I have read some of the circulating polemics on this issue, which I will not dignify by linking here. The clever admixture of fact with fable can seem quite persuasive to someone with no particular scientific expertise. They press the hearer with a barrage of claims in rapid succession, a tactic that has been dubbed the “Gish gallop” after the debating strategies of the late young-earth proponent Duane Gish. Typically, all of the claims are either false sources or misrepresentation of legitimate sources, but the time and research required to thoroughly refute each one can be truly daunting. They might even throw in a few true claims to enhance the illusion of plausibility. An average person could never afford the time or effort to fact-check the sources, and usually lacks the skill to do it.

Christians are neither more nor less vulnerable to such manipulation, though probably more inclined to some fringe beliefs while less inclined toward others. A disturbing number of Christians have fallen for anti-vaccination myths, risking not only their lives but the lives of innocent children. Almost always this is wedded to the conceit that there is some great conspiracy of government, physicians, and “Big Pharma” to suppress evidence and thrust an allegedly dangerous product upon an unsuspecting populace. Anti-vaxxers seem impervious to the fact that leading authorities such as Focus on the Family and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations have taken great care to defend vaccinations and debunk false claims. Anti-vaccination and other conspiracy myths utilize the same persuasive appeal of ancient gnosticism – a chance to elevate one’s own self-importance through the possession of “special” knowledge. Recently on National Review, Andrew Stuttaford (an atheist) expressed it perfectly:

The draw of a conspiracy theory to its followers is reinforced by the perception it gives them that they are in the know. They reckon that they have discovered what the “sheeple” could not, endowing them with a sense of superiority that is as enjoyable as it is undeserved, a fact that hucksters of all stripes have turned to their financial, political, or other advantage over the generations: Sign up with me and I’ll tell you what’s really going on.

“Corona conspiracies”, April 13, 2020

Suspicion of the media and government can be totally rational if a consistent standard of skepticism is applied across the board. One should not believe everything that is reported, simply because it is reported. But it is a much greater error to abandon all skepticism toward less reputable, even more ideologically partisan sources.

Bringing out the best

Times such as this call for courage, hope, selflessness, and humility.

The courageous doctors, nurses, and technicians of Samaritan’s purse reflect the image of Christ, who willingly set aside heaven’s glory to fully know and experience the most profound suffering and agony.

Through trust in God’s saving grace and final sovereignty, we can enjoy a confident hope that this, too, shall pass and that glory awaits on the other side of death’s door.

We demonstrate our selflessness by accepting burdensome restrictions, by respecting social distancing, by wearing masks (if they help), by reaching out to those in greater need than ourselves, and patiently enduring the economic hardship in order that many more lives may be spared.

Lastly, and most importantly, let’s stay humble. Accept how much we don’t know, then act accordingly. Only health experts are experts in health. Humility may save your life.

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In our next installment: “Pandemic: Endgame”