Addiction is pursuing activities that make you feel better even in the face of contraindicating factors like, oh, death. So reading Friendly Atheist’s remarks on Pastor John Magee made me realize that, in some essential regard, everyone connected with his church is an addict:
Just over a month ago, we learned that John Hagee, the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, tested positive for COVID.
His son Matthew made the announcement at the time: [Tweet omitted – HW]
Notice that Matthew said his father was “receiving extremely good medical treatment.”
He’s lucky he can afford it. That’s not necessarily true of the congregation he’s putting in danger by hosting in-person, indoor, mask-optional, not-very-socially-distanced services.
Yesterday, the elder Hagee was back in church. He said he spent 15 days in the hospital with “double pneumonia” but he was better now. But you can see from the video below [link added – HW] that the church hasn’t made any adjustments for COVID. It’s still in-person, indoor, jam-packed, and mask-optional.
Let’s enumerate.
- We have the congregation. They’ve received the news of their pastor becoming ill, thus making Covid-19 immediate and real. Are they addicts? Sure. They go to a church rich in superspreader potentiality, and they know it. But it makes them feel good to go and participate in services, because that makes them part of the Chosen.
- And we have the clerics. They are all vulnerable; even Hagee, who presumably was told by hospital staff that reinfection is quite possible. But there he is, up and preaching. He knows the risk to himself, his fellow clerics, and his congregation. All it takes is one asymptomatic shedder of the virus to infect attendees. But Hagee? He’s popular, powerful, he has prestige. History teaches us that power is as much a drug as meth, and often just as hard to shake. He’s an addict.
It’s a classic depiction of addiction, willfully pursued in the face of danger to both self and others. I wonder if it would help to keep that in mind when communicating with clerics and their congregations. I’m sure they’ll dislike the characterization. Perhaps it doesn’t apply to all congregations – although I suspect those that are not addicts are also not putting themselves and their fellows at risk.
