Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Americans should be willing to condemn China’s great crimes while also critiquing America’s mistakes. Democratic citizens’ right to criticize their government is a key reason why the US is better than China and why democracies ultimately outperform autocracies.

A simple pro-life analysis does not yield much fruit or shed much light on how the government should act in foreign policy.

A theologian’s task in time of plague is to show the light and give people hope. In recent years, many of us trained as theologians have traded our office for that of the pundit and scold. That we have so little worthwhile to say now, in this unprecedented time of fear and uncertainty, is yet one more sign of judgment.

Of course America will survive the coronavirus. We’ve many times survived far worse.

Some argue that government restrictions on larger church gatherings are a violation of religious freedom. Others argue they are responsible and legitimate. Paul Marshall believes both positions are, or can be, correct.

Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic in which the United States must seemingly make the frightful choice between saving lives and saving the economy, we inexplicably have a legion of volunteer mathematicians lining up to show off how well they can make the terrible calculations to decide who lives and who dies.

China, at least its despotic regime, has essentially become sinister Mr. Potter from It’s A Wonderful Life.

Albert Camus’ “The Plague” is a study of how the various townspeople relate to one another during a catastrophe. The book has always been good for reflection, but now it’s truly a mirror.

Some in the West may hope that COVID-19 exposes the Chinese Communist Party’s lies and human rights violations while sparking mass protests. Meanwhile, the pandemic spreads in the West and complicates the geopolitical rivalry between the US and China.