interesting text message

These days, we get several text messages per day about COVID-19: new alerts regarding the location of recently discovered infected people, updates about the setting-up of negative-pressure treatment tents, advice on using masks, and of course, announcements about restrictions on basic freedoms, such as the freedom of assembly. That's what the above message says: in the interest of preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus (in Korean, it's called "Corona-19," like an age-restricted beer), please refrain from attending Protestant worship, Buddhist services, or Catholic masses. The subtext seems to be that collective prayer isn't going to help you, so pray in secret, even as your Father in Heaven is in secret.*

Granted, I'm not inclined to assemble anywhere at this point, so framing this as a "taking away our freedoms" issue might be overly dramatic. The above notice should be read as a caution ("please refrain," not "you are forbidden"). That said, the idea that freedoms often drip away in the name of security is never far from my mind. The US went through something similar just after 9/11, and Americans are still laboring under the erosion of crucial freedoms.

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*I have posts going back to 2005 that deal with the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' various injunctions against virtue-signaling. The question of self-conscious public piety versus quiet piety is a constant one for me, not because I'm worried about wearing my own Christianity on my sleeve, but rather because there are so many Christians out there who engage in loud-and-proud displays of religiosity—openly praying in restaurants, standing in a circle and bellowing songs in order to bring about this or that supposedly divine result, chanting Bible verses at demonstrations, etc. My buddy Mike recently wrote about the virtue-signaling issue in a post that meditates on Ash Wednesday. Give him a read.