THE GOOD PASTOR

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”

I don’t know Kristopher Casey, pastor of Adams Square Baptist church. I left him a message on his church phone, to which he has not yet replied.

So, I am going by what I have read about him, how he is brazenly disregarding the state’s social distancing guidelines by holding services with gatherings well above the 10 people maximum permitted.

In late April, he reportedly drew some 56 people from around the state to include Boston, Lexington, Lawrence, New Bedford and other Eastern Massachusetts communities. On Sunday, he held another gathering that drew about 46 people.

And he is doing this even as the deadly coronavirus continues to challenge local official efforts to keep it at bay.

Perhaps, the good pastor does not care Worcester is averaging 69 new coronavirus cases per day, and that the city as of Monday had 2,462 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, an increase of 76 cases from the day before.

Maybe he doesn’t give a bleep that we have five police officers and six firefighters with the virus, and that statewide it has taken the lives of 4,090 people, including 320 in Worcester County.

But let’s be clear. The good pastor is undermining the city’s efforts to contain the virus.

“We have worked every day–a lot of people in the city administration, a lot of doctors nurses, police and fire EMS—to contain this virus,” Mayor Joe Petty said in a telephone interview Monday.

“And at this particular time, we are in the surge. He couldn’t pick a worse time to do this. He is putting our police officers, our public health officials and his neighbors in jeopardy.”

The good pastor claims he is exercising his constitutional and religious rights.

“My whole argument has been the First and 14th amendments, along with Massachusetts law that says that no law shall be made that infringes on my rights to freely worship my God and my savior,” he told the Telegram & Gazette.

Since he is the only Worcester pastor taking this stance, does that make the others less pious than him?

The Rev. Aaron Payson, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, doesn’t think so.

“…While I respect the intention of my local colleague to serve those in his care, I respectfully disagree with his decision…” Rev. Payson wrote in a Facebook posting.

“This crisis requires cooperation between civil authorities, local agencies and faith-based communities.”

Of course, we all know there are plenty of false prophets and conmen out there capitalizing on the virus for their self-fish ends.

I am not saying the good pastor is one of them.  I am saying the constitution doesn’t give him the right to put his community at risk.

On the contrary, the law allows social distancing and restrictive gatherings when our freedom to associate and assemble infringe on the common good.

And the good book grants temporal authorities their due.

“Give unto Caesar what is Cesar,” Jesus once counseled, a statement interpreted by religious scholars to mean, “Give to worldly authorities the things that belong to them, and to God what belongs to God.”

So, this not about religious freedom or the constitution.

It is about African Americans, who are overrepresented in service-sector jobs, succumbing disproportionately to the virus.

It is about forcing people without adequate health coverage to work (if they are to feed themselves and their families) in meat plants, many of which have become the epicenter of the virus in many states.

It is about the deaths piling up in nursing homes, and the virus spreading in prisons. It is about health care workers and the correctional officers running the risk every day of taking the virus home to their families and communities.

And it is about Americans being struck down by the tens of thousands around the country.

On this day, May 5, there are 1, 213,774 cases of the coronavirus in the country, with new epicenters propping up in the states where governors have been less proactive than Massachusetts in restricting freedom of movement and gatherings.

The virus has claimed 70,000 Americans’ lives thus far, and the death rate is projected to rise above 3,000 per day.  Many experts believe these numbers are highly conservative.

Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now raising its projection of coronavirus-related deaths from 72,000 to 134,000. The Center predicts a range from 95,000 to 243,000 deaths if the scientist’s margin of error is considered.

This national tragedy is what the good pastor is potentially fueling and extending every time he flaunts the state’s coronavirus prevention guidelines.

So, pastor Casey can wrap himself in the flag and plead freedom of worship all he wants, but selfishness and lack of empathy are all he is selling.