Today is Christmas, and this year we’ve been mostly spared the “War on Christmas” nonsense that usually rears it’s ugly head this time of year.
On the other hand, we’ve experienced a different phenomenon this year (and frankly the last four years) that has to do with the embrace by evangelist Christians of Donald Trump, by far the least Christian President that we’ve ever had.
That has been exacerbated this year by the Covid crisis, where many “Christians” refused the simple act of wearing a mask, or refused to recognize that it would be much more charitable to fellow parishioners and their extended families not to congregate in large churches so as not to create superspreader events.
This unwillingness to recognize the “Christian” thing to do led to events like the wedding in rural Maine that became a superspreader event in a part of the country that, up until that time, had almost completely avoided any infections.
- The nuptials and reception took place in Millinocket, near Mount Katahdin, on August 7.
- A state health inspector subsequently found that the 62 guests mingled, danced, and dined for hours. (They had their temperatures checked, but few wore masks or practiced physical distancing.)
- As of November 12, health authorities had identified at least 178 cases connected to that wedding.
- Of those 178 cases, at least seven people died and three more were hospitalized, although none of those people attended the wedding.
The pastor who supervised at the wedding was unrepentant when confronted with the consequences of his actions.
And this guy is a pastor.
(Now, to be fair, there are many, many Christians who have reacted to the pandemic in a caring and appropriate way, so I don’t want to paint with too broad a brush.)
So, I hope that you all can have as celebratory a Christmas as we can all manage to have this year — and let’s face it, that’s going to be a challenge this time around — but maybe we really can put the Christ back in those Christians who have clearly lost sight of him.