Gratitude
Amidst Daily Challenges of
Living with
the Coronavirus Pandemic
in the
Greater New York City Area – Part II
I am very hopeful that my daughter’s
generation, “Generation Z,” will demand rationality of their religious leaders.
“Gen Zers” uncritically accept the scientific method as the surest means to
determine truth. To convert them to any religion, you would address this
fundamental presupposition. Ignoring science will not be effective. As I write,
I recall conducting a weekly homework roundtable with a group of high school
students. The truth and worth of the Bible arose as a topic of heated
discussion. One of the students commented, “Come on Rev., you know as well as I
do that the Garden of Eden story and most stories in the Bible are truly
sketchy.” Her remark enabled us to
discuss acquisition of “Truth” versus “truth.”
The former posits the possibility of knowing with direct, verifiable,
and propositional certainty. This position assumes independently corroborated
evidence and conclusions that any reasonable person could reach. Some religious
leaders arrogantly speak with definitiveness that they know and can articulate
God’s “Truth.” In contrast, “truth”
considers all viewpoints and acknowledge the contributions of a person’s prism
of experience to any attempt to state anything with certitude.
There are obvious problems with
epistemology with both conceptualizations of truthfulness. Additionally, we
discussed truth as myth, which is not beholden to the scientific method or
provable, linear facts. The Bible is not a scientific textbook, nor does it
make such claims. It reveals divine wisdom within human experience which can
never achieve objectivity. Twenty-first century theologizing, to achieve
intellectual respectability, must be interdisciplinary. Local pastors will bear
this burden as professors in the religion academy must. The enduring “truth,”
principles and disciplines of the Christian faith can meet this test. However,
leaders on all levels will need to converse with other areas of study and other
faith traditions to do so. Any unwillingness will mean the loss of a generation
or two of disciples and a weakening of the Church. Still, I remain optimistic
that the coronavirus affords us an opportunity to strengthen the Gospel message
within the global village.
Parenthetically, I admonished those
high school students to be as critical of science and technology as they are of
religion. Science is as fraught with scandal and moral problems and ethical
violations as religion, accounting, banking, medicine, athletics,
entertainment, government, and other professions. In 1991, a Nobel Prize
winning scientist resigned as chairperson of his department at a prominent
university due to allegations that he faked laboratory data and published the
results as legitimate. In conducting a peer review, a fellow scientist could
not replicate the studies or conclusions. The scientific community ostracized
this female colleague for her revelations. For six years, she was unable to
gain employment neither in teaching nor research whether public or private
entities. The subsequent investigation exonerated her. This scandal reveals
that human beings who live within prisms of experience do scientific research.
Science wrestles with human subjectivity just as religion does. Whether “Truth”
or “truth,” science cherishes it until greater acquisition of knowledge
dethrones previous cardinal assumptions. Additionally, science grapples with
racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and national biases as well as the
plethora of phobias that plague average people.
George M Fredrickson, venerable
historian of a previous generation, explored this dilemma in his compelling
book, The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American
Character and Destiny 1817-1914. He discusses the pivotal role of racism in
nineteenth century science. Racial assumptions not surprisingly informed
scientific results. This secular version of intellectual dishonesty expanded
into the social sciences during the Progressive Era, 1880-1920, in which human
aptitude, capability and endowment were deemed quantifiable. The concept of
Social Darwinism arose and applied the tenets of natural selection to humans.
This misguided thinking enshrined White supremacist notions in scientific
paradigms and presuppositions. To no one’s amazement, nature specifically
endowed the Caucasian and Aryan race with superiority. She cruelly gifted
people of African descent with unparalleled physiology but chose to forego
giving them any intelligence comparable to their European, Asian, Mongolian
Amerindian and Hispanic brothers and sisters. The coronavirus reminds humankind
of its commonality when confronted by a pandemic, natural disaster, or nuclear
annihilation. The necessity of achieving mutually beneficial coexistence should
guide global diplomacy and geopolitical markets as the global village prepares
for a doubling of the population at midcentury. Superfluously indulging the
inanities of racism and xenophobia as evident in Western imperialism, jingoism,
militarism, multinational corporate greed and exploitation and environmental
discrimination threatens human survival. No race will be able to protect and
exempt itself from these forces. Science provides a means to create a more just
and equitable global village.
I am hopeful this tragedy will teach
people to practice disease preventive measures and wellness habits. A revolting
and infuriating disparity persists in the rates and proportions of infections
and deaths. In Illinois, Louisiana, Alabama and possibly New York, African
Americans represent nearly fifty percent of the infections and seventy percent
of the deaths though they comprise a third of the population. The startling
disproportionate morbidity in the African American community lingers. It is as
if it is commonly accepted in research, data, medical and healthcare practice.
Have health professionals become numb to this fiercely unequal reality? In
addition to churches, barbershops, beauty salons, and liquor stores, dialysis
centers litter urban Black communities. Diabetes, hypertension, high blood
pressure, heart disease, renal failure and high cholesterol adversely effects these
citizens in greater proportions than their White counterparts. The vicious
cycle and context of poverty, substandard education, residential segregation,
unemployment, underemployment, reliance upon public transportation and marital
and familial dysfunction compound these health crises. Nevertheless, I pray our
fellow citizens will respond self-determinatively and utilize their community’s
resources to combat this persistent and daily threat to their families and
lives.
Further, I hope anyone insisting he or
she is a leader in the Black community will dedicate himself or herself to
resolving one of the foregoing challenges. Leadership demands more than vacuous
rhetoric, press conferences, large social media followings and other iterations
of celebrity. Whether in public school classrooms, halls of government, board
rooms, courthouses, athletic complexes, entertainment venues, pharmaceutical
laboratories or community centers, leaders have myriad opportunities to improve
the quality of life of the people whom they represent. Conceivably, the
coronavirus will encourage the most vulnerable citizens to choose leaders who
possess the commitment, vision, and skills to improve their communities.
Moreover, I hope publicly elected officials, academicians, members of the
press, social activists, community organizers, business leaders and other
relevant persons will not return to regular busyness and forget about these
structural injustices and disparities in our society. This pandemic offers us
yet another opportunity to correct these inequities as we strive to maintain
American competitiveness in the global economy. Our nation deludes itself if we
falsely presume, we can leave a sizeable percentage of the citizenry behind as
the sleeping bear and napping bull of the Pacific Rim countries awaken and
acquire technology.
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