“There are two things which kill the soul,” wrote St. Augustine, “despair and presumption.” Despair takes command when hope is jettisoned, when we give up on God. Presumption is more typically a characteristic of atheism, the conviction that we have no need of God, and are quite capable of going it alone.
The faithful do not despair. Secularists do. The faithful are also at home when they look to God for comfort. Secularists have no idea what this means.
It is for reasons like these that many studies have shown that those who believe in God are more likely to be optimistic than secularists. And in the case of secularists who are activists, typically in left-wing circles, pessimism is something they wallow in, always looking at the dark side.
Interestingly, those on the left who are not secularists have much in common with non-believers during this time. For example, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams upset some people when he opined that “God doesn’t put you where you’re going to be comfortable. God puts you where you need to be.” He added, “God always has a plan.” For this he not only incurred the wrath of secularists, he ticked off left-wing Christians, including a Jesuit priest.
The Nation, a Stalinist magazine, lashed out at Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, for noting that during this time of trial, it is important to develop “your God-given talents to the utmost.” This innocuous remark was branded as an example of “religious nationalism.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, an ex-altar boy, told us that the coronavirus numbers were getting better. He made sure God got none of the credit. “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.” Yes, he is just that self-righteous.
The secular left is happy about one element of the coronavirus pandemic: it allows them to exploit this tragedy for political purposes.
Slate ran an article describing how hard life is at this time in Riker’s Island, the New York prison for serial murderers and rapists. The title of the piece is, “Everyone’s Coughing, Everyone’s Agitated.” No doubt that is true. It is also true that those in nursing homes are lucky if they can cough, though that is not a community of any interest to the left.
“Advocates Worry As ICE Says Only Around 300 of its 32,000 Detainees Have Been Tested for COVID-19.” Daily Kos gave us this gem. The advocates, of course, want to abolish ICE, and the “detainees” are those who crashed our borders illegally.
The Nation took up the cause of “sex workers,” a.k.a. prostitutes, saying they “are among those most affected by the social distancing and lockdown policies.” These poor victims, we learn, are “consistently and unfairly stereotyped as diseased, so even mild epidemics can hurt business.” Trump should declare this a national emergency.
“Amazon Tribes Say Christian Missionaries Threaten ‘Genocide’ During Pandemic.” This Huffington Post beauty blames those intrusive Christians for bringing their lousy diseases with them, threatening to wipe out “isolated peoples.”
Daily Kos beat them all with this post: “Trump Faces Credible Accusations of Knowingly Spreading Coronavirus to the Maya of Guatemala.” Why he hasn’t been placed under house arrest is a mystery. The least he can do is authorize reparations for the Maya.
Finally, we have Richard Wigmans of Texas Tech University. He wants coronavirus to kill Trump. “I am personally an atheist,” the physics professor says, “but if #45 would die as a result of this virus, I might reconsider.”
Wigmans no doubt speaks for many of his ilk. This is what it takes to bring about optimism among these miserably unhappy people. A sicker bunch cannot be found, anywhere on earth.
