Author: John Pavlovitz

The President keeps teasing it in his daily propaganda, ego-stroke photo op. His sycophantic surrogates repeat the refrain on social media and in press releases. Soulless partisan television hosts pound us relentlessly with it. MAGA cult members protest mask-less and in close quarters for it. This united offensive to quickly get Americans back to work, is all happening on days when we are losing over two thousand people a day, when we’ve eclipsed 644,000 confirmed cases, when 29,000 have died in the span of eight weeks. And every single life that is threatened by this vicious, insidious illness—falls squarely...

It is like the script in a terrifying blockbuster horror series: 1,000 people a day are dying from a contagious disease carried by infected human beings, who the healthy people try desperately to keep their distance from, lest they too become infected. They barricade themselves in their homes as much as possible, and when they do have to travel, they do so ever vigilantly—always trying to avoid contact with those who will pass the sickness onto them. But the zombies are plentiful and prolific and relentless in their pursuit. They amass quickly, and in with blinding speed they overwhelm...

“We are seeing the emergence of 50-state anarchy, because of a total vacuum of federal leadership. It’s absurd that thinktanks and Twitter are providing more actionable guidance in the U.S. than the federal government, but that’s where we are.” – Jeremy Konyndyk, COVID Local Love is powerful. It will make human beings do almost anything. We’re seeing that right now. Some people adore capitalism so much, they’re willing to sell their souls to support it. They’re willing to spend other people lives in service of it. In the middle of a brutal sprawling pandemic, on a day when a...

The President has said that he wants all churches to be open by Easter. That isn’t necessary. He doesn’t know what the Church is, or he’d speak differently. It isn’t him alone, of course. Many people who talk about the Church miss what’s always been true, even many Christians. The Church has never had anything to do with geography. It was never a building, never a fixed, physical location you visited for an hour on Sunday. That’s far too small a space to fit the vast and sprawling life it produces. The Church has always been the people who...

On March 21, a reporter asked Donald Trump what he would say to Americans who are scared right now. He refused to answer. He grew belligerent. He showed no compassion, offered no encouragement, showed no leadership. Here is how I wish he would have responded. Here is how I answer the question. Dear America, I know how scared you are. I’m scared too. I know how terrifying this is. I am as terrified as you are. A few days ago, we woke up in a different world than the one we closed our eyes to the night before. Nothing...