Some Church & Culture Commentary

In the interest of fairness, I am going out on the shaky limb to translate President Trump’s “order” for churches to open. This is both for those who are heralding him as our Deliverer, like he is Cyrus of Persia, and for those who are hating on him as a Despot, like he is Caesar of Rome.

A few weeks ago, I read an article (as self-proclaimed and self-educating “social media scholars” so often love to do 😆) in which the author pointed out that during this crisis, a time when the POTUS had the authority to tell governors what to do, he had not done it. Instead, he allowed them to make their own judgments.

The POTUS was criticized by “the left” for this because he wasn’t doing enough to protect the country from spreading COVID-19, especially in states like South Carolina and midwestern states who were the last to close. Meanwhile, “the right,” at least from my perspective, sort of sat in silent ambivalence toward the POTUS, mostly reacting in frustration to their governors and leaving the POTUS basically unaddressed. Now that the POTUS has “ordered” houses of worship to reopen, the same people who criticized him weeks ago for not doing enough are now criticizing him for doing too much — “telling us what to do and when to do it,” scoffing at his words, and calling him Caesar.

I don’t think this order is directed to churches; this is a direct order to the GOVERNORS to allow churches to make their own decisions about when to open. Perhaps this is all up to interpretation. I will leave you with the liberty to form your own opinion. However, at the very least, please try to keep your moralistic hate from clouding your judgment one way or the other.

Is there some political posturing and catering to constituents going on here? Oh, absolutely! But that’s what makes this politics. And politics is part of the engine that drives the train of government.

I am not defending the President. (He doesn’t seem to shy away from an opportunity to get defensive.) Instead, I am pointing out what I believe is the proper interpretation and application of his “order.”

Again, he is not directly ordering churches to open as if they HAVE to open at his command. His “beef” is with governors telling churches they cannot open because they’re not essential. Now, if you disagree with the POTUS overriding the governors’ authority by letting churches make their own decisions, then that is a different issue and you can study Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton for more on that argument. It’s been happening for a long, long time.

And if you don’t believe churches should be opening right now, again, that is your prerogative and I have written and commented about that elsewhere, but that is also not the issue here.

Now, I digress... and I think Facebook needs a new reaction that has a “Good Grief, Charlie Brown” emoji.