Is Religion a Fair Scapegoat for Corona Virus?

After reading numerous Facebook posts and comments about how religion is bad, and coronavirus proves it, they have dealt relatively little with the facts of the situation. So here's some things to think about before you go on an anti-religion tirade about how the coronavirus would not be spreading as much if it weren't for religion in general.

First cult is not the same as religion. Although some may argue there is a sliding scale between cult and religion there are generally accepted ideas about what defines a cult versus a religion.

1. A cult strongly discourages association with anyone outside that cult. It seeks to use its ideas as a means of social control on its members in ways that affect not just their time at spiritual gatherings, but who they interact with, when, and for how long. Both Scientology, and Shincheonji practice this kind of social control.
2. They require/demand large sums of money from their constituents as a basis for participation in the cult. Mormonism (if I'm not mistaken), Scientology, and Shincheonji all do this, along with other so-called Christian prosperity "gospel" preachers.
3. They demand ultimate loyalty to a cult leader or leaders rather than principles that could evaluate all members and disqualify someone based on evidence or facts.
4. Cults discourage critical investigations as to the truth of their claims. Mormonism has definitely done this in a very public manner.

Now does Communism or Evangelical Christianity check more of the above boxes? At the root of the corona virus outbreak is a cult of CPP officials who sought to preserve the stability and "reputation" of their leaders rather than consider public health. They censor the general public's access to information critical of them,  levy large amounts of tax from their population, and demand ultimate loyalty to the CPP for the sake of "social harmony". The CPP is the cult at the center of this whole issue, and everyone is rather happy to pour hate on religion but not the CPP, because hating communism in China is economically (or perhaps in some cases physically) dangerous for world leaders or public figures.

Meanwhile in South Korea, most religious leaders, and church organizations have agreed with authorities asking to suspend public services, and have instead opted to live stream them over the internet. There are some exceptions but they are on the extremes, and churches that have a lot to lose from stopping thousands of members, if not tens of thousands of members, from attending services have seen the threat to public health, and obeying civil authorities when it does not contradict with their foundational doctrines  as more important.

If we want to point fingers at a cult, why don't we point it at the personality cult of the CPP, and people who blindly follow what the CPP allows them to know about how China actually functions as a whole not just in major cities that the world gets to see. Even then there are cracks at the foundations of what they are doing. The CPP should be facing a very real and serious legitimacy crisis in the eyes of the Chinese people.

#notallreligions


Sertpetnza's Video Addressing the Issue with the CPP