This blog has been on de facto hiatus for some time, for a combination of reasons. One is that I've been very much focused upon finishing my current book project, which tends to decrease the time that I spend blogging. Another is that my father has been sick since late last year, which has taken up significant time and energy. And the last of course is COVID. And it's on this that I want to post today.
Now, I'm not going to talk about the disease per se. I know next to nothing about virology and epidemiology, although apparently more than certain elected officials. I do know a thing or two about religion though, so and I want to talk about the idea that religious gatherings are not essential services. In doing so, I want to apologize for straying from this blog's focus upon biblical studies, but the context in which we are situated would seem to warrant this.
Most jurisdictions the world over have not defined religious gatherings as essential services for purposes of pandemic-related regulations. Some have seen this as an attack on religion. Strangely, the same persons seem to have little trouble with for instance Pride parades being prohibited by these seem regulations, although surely if prohibiting religious gatherings is an attack on religion than prohibiting LGBT gatherings is an attack on LGBT people. This observation is not made flippantly or as a superficial attack on hypocrisy (any attack on hypocrisy is of course analysis that has barely made it halfway to an insight). Rather, the failure to rigorously think through the consequences of one's virulent rhetoric is a sign that one is propagating not intellectual and reasonable argumentation but rather ideological drivel.
The drivel in this case has to do with a fundamental failure to distinguish between "essential" and "important." In the context of the pandemic, "essential" means simply "things that one cannot live without for any significant length of time." And the application of this to religious gatherings is not difficult. I can go a lot longer without going to church than I can without food, water, or life-saving medication. It does not however follow that religion is unimportant. It just means that given the fact that one can survive for an extended period of time without attending religious gatherings and the reality that large gatherings greatly facilitate the spread of the disease, it is a reasonable measure to temporarily restrict and even prohibit religious gatherings in the interest of saving lives.
Here we might introduce another word: "excellent." In Lonergan's understanding, that which is essential provides the foundation for that which is excellent; or alternatively, one might say that excellence is that which builds upon that which is essential in order to create a better world for all of us. For instance, higher education is excellent. It provides among other things the teaching and training necessary for people to treat illness and work towards finding a vaccine for COVID. It is not essential in the same sense that food and drink are essential. No student can succeed in higher education without food or drink. Anyone who has tried studying on an empty stomach can tell you that. Man may not live by food alone, but without food no man may live. One needs to meet basic needs in order to work towards more "advanced" needs. So, no, religion is not essential. It may however very well be excellent, and might I suggest that it shows its excellence precisely in realizing that its full practice must be curtailed for a season in the interest of saving lives.
Now, I'm not going to talk about the disease per se. I know next to nothing about virology and epidemiology, although apparently more than certain elected officials. I do know a thing or two about religion though, so and I want to talk about the idea that religious gatherings are not essential services. In doing so, I want to apologize for straying from this blog's focus upon biblical studies, but the context in which we are situated would seem to warrant this.
Most jurisdictions the world over have not defined religious gatherings as essential services for purposes of pandemic-related regulations. Some have seen this as an attack on religion. Strangely, the same persons seem to have little trouble with for instance Pride parades being prohibited by these seem regulations, although surely if prohibiting religious gatherings is an attack on religion than prohibiting LGBT gatherings is an attack on LGBT people. This observation is not made flippantly or as a superficial attack on hypocrisy (any attack on hypocrisy is of course analysis that has barely made it halfway to an insight). Rather, the failure to rigorously think through the consequences of one's virulent rhetoric is a sign that one is propagating not intellectual and reasonable argumentation but rather ideological drivel.
The drivel in this case has to do with a fundamental failure to distinguish between "essential" and "important." In the context of the pandemic, "essential" means simply "things that one cannot live without for any significant length of time." And the application of this to religious gatherings is not difficult. I can go a lot longer without going to church than I can without food, water, or life-saving medication. It does not however follow that religion is unimportant. It just means that given the fact that one can survive for an extended period of time without attending religious gatherings and the reality that large gatherings greatly facilitate the spread of the disease, it is a reasonable measure to temporarily restrict and even prohibit religious gatherings in the interest of saving lives.
Here we might introduce another word: "excellent." In Lonergan's understanding, that which is essential provides the foundation for that which is excellent; or alternatively, one might say that excellence is that which builds upon that which is essential in order to create a better world for all of us. For instance, higher education is excellent. It provides among other things the teaching and training necessary for people to treat illness and work towards finding a vaccine for COVID. It is not essential in the same sense that food and drink are essential. No student can succeed in higher education without food or drink. Anyone who has tried studying on an empty stomach can tell you that. Man may not live by food alone, but without food no man may live. One needs to meet basic needs in order to work towards more "advanced" needs. So, no, religion is not essential. It may however very well be excellent, and might I suggest that it shows its excellence precisely in realizing that its full practice must be curtailed for a season in the interest of saving lives.
The book is coming along well?
ReplyDeleteIt's getting there, thanks. Hopefully should be finished by the end of the year, and published I think next year.
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