U.S. Calvinist Traditions Are Why the U.S. is Still in The Throes of the Pandemic

A major reason the US has failed to curb the spread of COVID-19, and failed to vaccinate the majority needed for everyday public life to resume safely, is because of our Calvinist foundations. Actually, when I say “our”, I mean, white people, of course. And even if your own ethnic roots are not Calvinist (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant), many white Europeans, after migrating here, were quick to adapt to WASP culture and values. Those values include — working to stay busy, suffering in silence and carrying on as normal in the face of tragedy, a very high sense of independent freedom and property ownership, while also assigning oneself the inherent freedom to move about and enter others’ territories in the name of your own deity and beliefs… And of course, let’s not forget the good ‘ol mass hysteria that the Puritans cultivated immediately upon arrival in the colonies.

Coupled with all this Calvinist fatalism and occasional hysteria is our gross lack of universal healthcare in this country. And the lack of it is actually an ideological feather in our national cap, based on worship of private enterprise and mistrust of central government. So it should be no wonder that almost half the nation has failed to get a free vaccine that would not only save their own lives, but would greatly curb the spread of the virus globally. A good part of this reluctance or outright refusal is our attitude toward sickness and how we carry on when sick… See, for many Americans, being sick — even with a potentially fatal disease — is no grounds to stop showing up to work, or even decline a social invitation. We also have a tradition of our work defining us, and giving us a point of pride in our lives, no matter the work, or how badly we may be treated there. The fact that we are working is all that matters. Anything that hinders our showing up is a sign of weakness and a character flaw. Add to that the lack of paid sick leave in many jobs in this country, and you have the perfect recipe for keeping a pandemic afloat…. The fact is, pre-pandemic, many Americans went to work or school, or got on an airplane or train, with a cold or even flu. Another significant fact is that many of these Americans had no other choice than to show up sick, or they risked losing their jobs. But many well paid white-collar Americans did this, as well. Spreading colds and flu has been an acceptable thing to do in this country for a very long time. This was simply the price to be paid for carrying on with our lives. A minor inconvenience for most, despite the few cases every year where it wasn’t.
Another fact is that for a great many, COVID-19 was like getting a mild cold. It’s been both a blessing and a curse for the USA. A blessing because the disease did not kill the majority of those who contracted it. A curse, however, because once Americans realized that most of us would survive it, we decided to end the initial shut-downs earlier than we should have. In doing so, we set up the conditions needed for the disease to spread and thrive among us. People continued to travel across states, show up for work sick, host parties and events, and of course, return to church.
I personally am not surprised in the least that it was the Protestant churches that urged state and local governments the most to reopen sooner than they should have. We are a country that wears the Christian religion on our sleeves, no matter whether we actually practice it or not. And that loud, vocal “Christian” message is definitely and decidedly the Protestant Calvinist message of, again, suffering in silence while carrying on, putting more faith in God than in science and government entities, and caring more about our own individual liberties — which would include our right to move about freely — than that of the community.
Floating to the surface of all this is a centuries-old tradition of actually not treating individual lives as sacred (despite the loud language trying to say otherwise). Yes, it’s ironic that we would value individual liberty, yet not value the inherent worth of each individual’s life, but that is a predominant dichotomy inherent in American society, and it always has been, from the time of the colonies. If you don’t believe me, just look at how we’ve treated the ongoing pandemic of mass shootings, our fervent national desires to create wars out of practically nothing so we can send more young men and women off to be killed or maimed, and how we treat young, single mothers and poor people, in general. Every life is precious, because every life is expendable. Glory be to God?

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