Covid-19 and religious freedom

Thanks for the post, nibbler. That’s a very frustrating article and completely unnecessary, IMO.

I think DAB misses the mark badly, and in doing so, he encourages bad behavior.

Social distancing, avoiding unnecessary exposure, washing hands, wearing masks. The thing is that since January 1, we have lost twice as many Americans as died in all of the Vietnam War. In fact, in just the first half of 2020, we have lost 7 times as many Americans to Covid-19 as Americans who were lost in all of 1968 in Vietnam (the worst year of the war for American deaths). Comparing with WWII, we are almost at 1/3 of the total WWII American deaths. We’ve done it in 1/7th of the time. In other words, our death rate is more than double the American death rate of WWII.

I think one problem with how Covid-19 precautions are being messaged is that this is about staying healthy as an individual. It is about YOUR health. If you don’t want to social-distance or wear a mask, then, that is up to you and according to your freedom. But if, instead, it were viewed as a societal responsibility, then social-distancing and wearing a mask is about the life of your neighbors. And surely, that is something the Church should be supporting.

Comparing attending church to filling up with gas is also a false equivalency.

I’m not in an enclosed building when I buy gas.

When I pump gas I typically do so alone. At the very least I wouldn’t use the word “gathering” to describe the number of people in my periphery.

Even if there were a few people around, they probably wouldn’t be singing (forcibly exhaling) around me.

It doesn’t take 45 minutes to an hour to gas up.

I don’t eat anything that teenagers hand me while filling my gas tank.

If the virus only had an impact on the people taking the risk it would be a little different. The challenge is that the virus spreads asymptomatically. One risk taker can unwittingly bring the virus to others that are trying to stay safe. I think that’s why the government has reacted with an overabundance of caution. Also, imperfect people react imperfectly… and that goes for the people in the shut down camp and people in the open up camp.

The comments also gave me the impression that Bednar feels that religions were singled out/targeted. All large gatherings were targeted and churches were lumped in with them. In addition, churches were deemed especially risky because of a few experiences with churches that became hotbeds for transmission.

This really touched a nerve with me.

It is with this background that I read the excerpts from Elder Bednar’s speech and I have been flabbergasted.

“While believers and their religious organizations must be good citizens in a time of crisis, never again can we allow government officials to treat the exercise of religion as simply nonessential. Never again must the fundamental right to worship God be trivialized below the ability to buy gasoline.”

The decisions around what businesses are considered essential and can remain open are imperfect. Closing down department stores but allowing Walmart to stay open because it has grocery is imperfect. The line has to be drawn somewhere but it will hurt – especially those businesses that were closest to the cut off line and shut down completely only to watch the competition stay open.

Elder Bednar states that the right to worship God is at least equal to the ability to buy gas.

2) I really need to buy gas. I suppose from a certain point of view it would be better to starve to death and go to heaven than to eat like a king and go to hell. That argument could be made but I am not sure that Elder Bednar is making it here. What he is trying to say is a mystery to me, that as long as gas stations are open then churches should also remain open? Is it just the label of non-essential that is offensive?

3) I very much dislike his use of the words “never again.” I understand this emphatic phrasing to be associated with the Holocaust and other genocides. It seems quite out of place for what I understand happened – the church taking voluntary and prudent steps to protect the membership and the public.

I giggled at this, having skimmed over his temper tantrum article in laughter and shock.

I think Bednar should demonstrate an example of his Christ-like claims by giving up that nice looking iMac and MacBook Pro in the video first before complaining about the gas stations being opened during a pandemic (so that, you know, doctors and nurses can fill up their cars on the way to work to save lives, while fully funded beyond their means apostles of the mormon church continue to enjoy 1st class amenities and “talk” to god for the rest of their life.

Perhaps Bednar needs to be reminded of the costs to run church buildings, power road lights (stop lights), pay road workers to maintain the roads and snow plows to remove the snow from the roads that his followers use to travel to church weekly? Not to mention the tithing members continue to willingly give to the church without blinking an eye.

No, Bednard, your freedom for religious worship hasn’t been affected nearly as much as your white privileged self would like to think. You just miss the control and power of knowing millions of faithful members are attending a church that funds your retirement.

/gets off soap box

Just in the interest of trying not to turn this into an ad hominem attack on the person of DAB, I think it is useful to point out that DAB is a very accomplished professional educator/administrator. He earned a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Purdue University, was a published author and college professor/administrator at the University of Arkansas College of Business before becoming the President of Ricks College and then leading the transition from Ricks College to BYU-Idaho. He left his high-arcing career at the age of 45 to become a Seventy in the LDS Church.

I think it is safe to say that he would now have a lot more money and live in a very comfortable retirement if he were not a General Authority in the Church. And as a GA, he gives far more personal sacrifice than any of us would be willing to give to such a cause.

I don’t agree with his take on this issue. I think it is unnecessary and promotes bad behavior. Over the years, I have frequently found his theological views to be quite different from my own.

But, I have to admit, with regard to the content of his character, it’s impossible for me to find fault in him.

If Bednar was not claiming to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, running the one and only true church… I’d completely understand and agree with you. From a non-church perspective he’s a fascinating individual with a deep history, just like literately all of the apostles and even the prophet. I have nothing “wrong” with them as men. They are fine.

When you claim to speak to Jesus and make choices that you claim Jesus approved of in a church that you claim Jesus leads, your “imperfect moral life” becomes relevant. It’s just the reality of being a celebrity, even if it’s religious. If Bednar was still employed or was retired and made these statements as a general nobody, sure I’d allow him to have any kind of opinion he wants. But when a man who claims to lead the church, claims to have authority, and has had a history of rebuking the faithful for not paying their tithing and for doubting the church, makes statements about losing religious freedom and his fears of government power, it is natural that he will be judged more harshly.

This is just my unpopular opinion, of course. I used to love Bednar, Holland and oaks when I was full believer back in the day.

… My government is not restricting my freedom of religious expression, my church is (which is not really unusual).

Agreed. Case in point:

Stake conferences canceled through November 1, exceptions can be requested

https://www.ldsliving.com/Stake-conferences-canceled-through-November-1-exceptions-can-be-requested/s/93018” class=”bbcode_url”>https://www.ldsliving.com/Stake-conferences-canceled-through-November-1-exceptions-can-be-requested/s/93018

I sincerely doubt some government official called up the church and told them that they were revoking their freedom to hold stake conferences until November 1. The church made the decision.

Edit: Granted that decision was probably made because of government restrictions on large gatherings.

Two months of pandemic hindsight later, here’s my take on Elders Bednar’s comments (as well as the comments of whoever prepared the piece).

a most pernicious social plague of racism

At least he addressed and framed it clearly, even if he didn’t take an inch past that.

It’s out of place in this article. Perhaps that is supposed to tell us something.

Elder Bednar pointed out, jurisdictions deemed services related to alcohol, animals and marijuana as essential, while the services of religious organizations were classified as nonessential, even when those activities could be safely conducted.

Maybe it’s the hindsight speaking but this is a bit of a hairball. Marijuana seems like a dumb inclusion unless they meant places that only sold recreational. Pets is tough. I’ve been divided the whole time. I would have picked some other example.

Part of the issue is that jurisdictions were reacting to news stories about churches that opted to create a congregation full of Covid spreaders.

More to the problem, however, is that there have been no clear guidelines from anywhere at all. Something as simple as most risk is indoors, becomes confusing when combined with nonsensical beach shaming.

When the pandemic hit, congregations of many faiths around the world canceled worship services and other activities to abide by government restrictions for large group gatherings to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

I think the article got part of it right by highlighting that most churches took responsible steps. But the religious freedom angle seems a tough sell when it’s up against intractable, boneheaded clergy. Clarification that religious liberty shines best when congregations aren’t defiance-fueled virus farms, would have gone a long way here.

“Gathering, in short, is at the core of faith and religion. Indeed, if the faithful are not gathering, sooner or later they will begin to scatter.”

I felt this was unusually honest and insightful.

“In our understandable desire to combat COVID-19, we, too, as a society may have forgotten something about who we are and what is most precious,”

Not happy this is restricted to Covid-19 but whatever.