I’ll be happy when the election is over. You?

Now back to more important topics. I was recently speaking with someone, an acquaintance, I guess, about the pandemic and how government has been handling it. Of course, here in the U.S., we basically have a possibility of fifty different solutions and as we’ve seen, there’s been some states that have made more progress than others. Then there are the states that seem to not want to even attempt to return to some kind of normal until the virus is completely eradicated . Good luck with that.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I believe this virus will be with us, probably always. Will it have the effects it has had? No. I believe that therapeutics as well as vaccines are on their way so that we’ll be able to manage it. there may come a time when we’ve vaccinated the whole world and thereby declare victory over it, but I don’t see that coming in the near future.

Back to my acquaintance though; When we were discussing the world-wide health and economic effects of this virus, he made what I took to be a joke at first: This pandemic was a judgement of god upon the world. I started to chuckle, ans then looked at him and asked of he were serious? He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders and said, yes, he was serious. Although I don;t know this person very well, I was surprised to hear that. Of course many of us have heard this same thing in the recent past, or read stories of some evangelist saying something similar.

I wondered, to myself if this guy really believed what he was saying or was this something he thought might be true because some pastor or priest had expressed it to a congregation. I didn’t know if I really wanted to continue this specific topic with him, but my curiosity got the best of me. I had to know, or try to understand, why he thought what he did.

I remember people of faith making all kinds of claims based on what they’ve been told in their churches, mosques, or synagogues. For instance, I remember hearing that god was going to judge us (the U.S.) for the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage (in 2015). The world was going to come to an end. Of course, I’m old enough to remember the 1973 decision on abortion and, although there wasn’t 24 hour news channels or an Internet, we heard pretty much the same thing, Well, in both instances, we’re still here but there may be some that say that god was just taking his time in dealing with us,. It’;s certain the previous pandemics and plagues were considered similarly.

This is the 21st century, or so I thought. Of course none of us may control what another believes or not. Think about all the TV shows about ghosts, UFO’s, and other paranormal or metaphysical phenomena. Those shows wouldn’t be on the air if there wasn’t an audience and certainly believers of any stripe want to have some sort of validation of what they’ve been taught their whole lives.

So it is with the guy I was speaking with. Whatever happens in the world, he seems to want to be able to point and say it’s another sign of the times, or something like that. It’s a shame people refuse to consider that sometimes things happen for reasons that have nothing to do with any god or anything supernatural period. We’re not, as a species, fated for anything, no matter what the secular prophets or the religious ones have to say.