Faith in the time of coronavirus

To equate fear with common sense is nonsense, says Bishop Brian Tamaki. It’s no less nonsensical than equating fearlessness with faith. Because in some cases, fearlessness arises from the oh-so-human failings of vainglorious delusion, wilful ignorance and arrogance.

The Government has declared among its Covid19 measures that gatherings of 500 or more people in New Zealand – outdoors or indoors – are not to go ahead. Tamaki, whose Destiny Church church is one of comparatively few whose congregation sizes would pass this threshold, stands defiant.

Christians – sorry, let’s be clear on this, tithepaying Christians – are protected from coronavirus, Tamaki says.

Not that Destiny is eschewing all earthly instruction on the matter. Tamaki adds ‘‘for the public’s knowledge and reassurance’’ that his church will practise good hand hygiene, avoid person-to-person contact, and reduce physical greetings, including the hongi. Physical proximity isn’t required, either, for unwell church members, who will be encourage to stay home and watch the livestream, or pray with elders over the phone.

So there are degrees to which the protections Tamaki invokes from on high don’t, even in his view, render the assertions of governments and scientists unnecessary. It’s rather the view that other churches tend to take. He’s being wilful about not letting the powers that be – the earthly ones, anyway – tell him what to do. Jesus said that where two or three were gathered in his name, he is in their midst. It’s tempting to assume that Tamaki doesn’t clearly welcome downsizing of gatherings of triumphal size, though he describes it as not wanting people to feel alone and scared. Does this require business-as-usual, though?

The bishop is right on one point – fear is itself problematic. As UK immunologist Dr Jenna Macciochi has just reiterated, stress has a known dampening effect on our immunity. Worrying ‘‘definitely’’ makes us more susceptible to infection. But this scarcely means that positivity makes us bulletproof. By reducing the effects of stress, we can raise our levels of protection, but Macciochi is quick to acknowledge that we can’t make ourselves invincible.

And that’s the thing. The Destiny congregations are endangering more than themselves when they emerge from their services and disperse back into the general population. Since the virus emerged into public view it hasn’t escaped notice that there weren’t immediate strict rules about mass gatherings, due to the paucity of evidence about community transmission. But as more information comes in, the Government must now act, out of an abundance of caution, for the wider good.

The closures and downsizing of many social gatherings will be part of a cost that will cut through many areas of society. People of faith will feel the disruptions as deeply as any of them. But surely that faith isn’t so brittle that it must resist public health measures.

If Destiny is prepared to do so, it is not standing up against an unreasonable government and health advisers. It is acting heedless of the wellbeing of the broader community and, with a breathtaking lack of humility, is seeking to sanctify issues of mere scale.

The Destiny congregations are endangering more than themselves when they emerge from their services and disperse back into the general population.