The Lockdown Is Not a Christian Response
Brian Murphy
April 12, 2020
It is Easter Sunday and I have just returned from the San Clemente Freedom March wherein about 40 very patriotic Americans marched peacefully on the sidewalks of San Clemente, CA protesting the nationwide "Lockdown" as a violation of constitutional rights. My sign read "A VIRUS DOES NOT MAKE THE CONSTITUTION NULL AND VOID." Another sign read "LOCKING DOWN THE SICK IS QUARANTINE. LOCKING DOWN THE HEALTHY IS TYRANNY." As we marched, many cars passing by honked with enthusiastic approval.
A freelance reporter interviewed the leader, Alan Hostetter, who articulately explained that Americans are being arrested in violation of their guaranteed right of freedom of assembly. The virus has created an irrational hysteria worldwide that is not supported scientifically by the numbers. The number of deaths is miniscule compared to the number of deaths from old age related natural causes which total 2.6 million annually in the USA, or 7,123 per day. Coronavirus numbers are simply a subset of that group but awareness is heightened because there is a definitive name and a corresponding test for "coronavirus" or "COVID-19."
Regardless of what statistics one prefers to take to heart, there are some very strong underlying principles in this crisis. I have expressed to my friends that I would not ask a single person to lose their job so that I or my wife could live longer. Our lives are in the hands of the Lord!
I would like to expand on this theme. Jesus Christ died for the world. As Christians, we are called to follow Him which means that we offer our lives for the world. We pray and do penance for the world. Many doctors, nurses and front line health care workers are offering their lives for the world – their coronavirus patients. However, if a Christian – let’s call him “John,” supports the idea that “Bill” should lose his job so that John can live longer, the direction of the ministry is effectively reversed. Instead of offering himself to the world, John is demanding that Bill offer himself to the world, lose his job, starve, so that John can live longer. This is exactly counter to John’s Christian calling. John’s action may not be immoral, but it is counter-Christian. This is the fundamental problem that I have with all those who support government mandates for businesses to close and for people to stay home. They are demanding and forcing others to make an enormous sacrifice for them (or perhaps their family – no difference). This is not the ministry of Christ. Therefore, I reject it entirely. I advised my barber salon to stay open. My wife and I are struggling to keep our family business open. Our employees support us 100%. I have family members suddenly unemployed. I am telling everybody I know that “the treatment is worse than the disease.” Nearly everybody I speak to agrees, although my sample is small and anecdotal.
The current role being played by the Church is to shut down public attendance at Masses. This is wrong for one big reason - it authenticates the tyranny of government mandates. Instead of protecting hard won constitutional rights such as "freedom of assembly," "the right of due process", whereby the government cannot shut down a business without due process and "equal protection" whereby the government cannot declare one business "essential" and another "non-essential," the Church has caved in completely to tyranny, forgetting the poor and downtrodden (17 million unemployed and counting). They have done this ostensibly for the good cause of showing civil obedience to authority, although some shockingly made their stand even before government mandates for people to stay home appeared. All of this is being done ostensibly to save lives. Has the Church forgotten that we are a resurrection people who are unafraid of death? Would it not be more proper to support voluntary distancing while continuing to praise the Lord in the Sacrament of the Mass and show a courageous witness in support of the well being of citizens of the world by resisting draconian measures that destroy the economy for all citizens of the world? Hasn't the Church fallen into the trap of reversing its role by asking the world to die (become unemployed) in order to slightly prolong the lives of a few elderly who are dying anyway?
On this Easter Sunday, let us pray and seriously probe the issues that present themselves and turn our response into a more Christian response. Repent! Restore the Sacraments to their fullest immediately!