Tuesday, March 17, 2020

religious people fucking it up for the rest of us

Look, you're free to do what you want, but do realize you don't live in a vacuum. While I stand by my stated lack of alarm regarding the pandemic, this doesn't mean I don't take it seriously, or that I think people should simply act in a heedless, carefree way: more than ever, we need to be considerate of each other, and consideration doesn't come easily to Koreans even when there's no pandemic hanging over them. We've already seen how one religious group, Shincheonji (which some describe as a doomsday cult), became a mini-epicenter for the spread of COVID-19 in the Daegu area. Now, it seems, another Christian church called River of Grace (은혜의 강 교회) has insisted on continuing to assemble, with the result that some 40 of its members, including the church's pastor and his wife, have tested positive for the current coronavirus. Did this church not see the writing on the wall when Shincheonji was in the spotlight? There's something almost criminally negligent about insisting on proceeding as if nothing were wrong when something is obviously very wrong. It's like that one mildly retarded guy in your platoon who loves to sing loudly while you're humping through the bush and trying to keep a low profile. If you're honest with yourself, then you know that you do want to frag that guy, even if he was born a moron.

How many other Korean churches, cult or not, are stubbornly proceeding as if nothing is happening? Do they not see the selfishness in doing that? Or are they so misguided that they can't see the danger of their actions?

ADDENDUM: the article I linked to above does say that there's an insurance call center in Seoul that is a larger cluster of infections than River of Grace Church is, so obviously, this isn't simply a matter of church people ruining things for the rest of us. That doesn't absolve the church of its responsibility for unnecessarily adding to the crisis, though. As the article says: "The authorities have urged local churches and other religious organizations to refrain from holding physical worship services, but some of them have failed to heed the request." Don't be stupid, guys. Matthew 18:20 notwithstanding, if God and Jesus exist everywhere, you don't need to congregate to be a congregation. We live in an era of often tight-knit online communities. Try that sort of existence on for size. Help the rest of us out, OK?



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