Skip to main content

A Letter to Governor Newsom for the Opening of Places of Worship

Below is an appeal letter to Governor Newsom that I sent just now that urges him to allow places of worship to remain open.


Governor Newsom:

I write to you today to urge you to allow places of worship to remain open under safety guidelines. As you may know, mental health has been a great concern during this pandemic. Talk to any mental health professional, social worker, pastor, or school teacher, and you will learn the impact this has had on our emotional well-being. In our church alone, we have seen the tragic emotional consequences of the pandemic. This impact is not, however, limited to anecdotes. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in mid-August that anxiety- and depression-related symptoms “increased considerably” in the United States between April and June of this year, with “40.9 percent of respondents [having] reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition,” including a ten-percent increase in thoughts of suicide compared to the same period last year. (1)

Lest you think this is a national and not a state phenomenon, California has also witnessed a general increase in reports of anxiety and depression, from 30.8 percent of respondents reporting these symptoms in April and May to 38.2 percent in October and November. During the week of October 28th to November 9th, in fact, our state was ranked eleventh in anxiety- and depression-related symptoms. (2)

Statistics like these highlight the need to restore a stronger sense of community. The CDC itself, in the above study, recommended among other solutions, “promoting social connectedness, and supporting persons at risk for suicide.” (1) There are few, if any, public gatherings that meet this need better than places of worship. Here, too, the science bears this out. Authors of a May 2016 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who attended religious services more than once per week over a sixteen-year period experienced a 33-percent lower mortality rate compared with those who never attended. (3) In a separate 2016 study in PLOS ONE that focused on stress, death rates, and church attendance, researchers found an even stronger relationship between church attendance and mortality, concluding, “More frequent churchgoers (more than once per week) had a 55% reduction in all-cause mortality compared with non-churchgoers” and that “increased religiosity (as determined by church attendance) is associated with less stress and enhanced longevity.” (4) Since it is clear that our state is experiencing increased mental health problems, and equally clear that church attendance helps address those problems, I ask you to give places of worship the same status as businesses by allowing us to remain open under safety guidelines.

The state, and you, have done your best to balance the need to protect our health with the need for economic security. You already recognize the importance of the commercial economy by allowing places of business to remain open. I ask you to consider the parallel spiritual economy that our places of worship help to sustain. You have said time and again that you would let the science drive your decisions. Please let the above science drive your decision regarding places of worship and allow us to remain open.

1. Mark É. Czeisler, Rashon I. Lane, et al. “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicide Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, June 14-30, 2020,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weekly / August 14, 2020 / 69(32); 1049–1057. Web. 25 November 2020.

2. “Anxiety and Depression: Household Pulse Survey.”. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics. Table: “Indicators of Anxiety or Depression Based on Reported Frequency of Symptoms During Last 7 Days.” U.S. Census Bureau, 2020. Web. 25 November 2020.

3. Shahashan, Li, Meir J. Stampfer, David R. Williams, et al. “Association of Religious Service Attendance With Mortality Among Women.” AMA Intern Med. 2016; 176(6): 777-785. American Medical Association, 2020. Web. 25 November 2020.

4. Bruce, Marino A., David Martins, et. al. “Church attendance, allostatic load and mortality in middle aged adults.” PLOS ONE, 16 May 2017. Web. 25 November 2020.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pleasure

*Note: In the following post, I am heavily influenced by a pastor named Bob Shirock. Specifically, Shirock writes about Solomon's response to the pleasures he experienced in life in Ecclesiastes, and observes that we can enjoy pleasures in life if we accept them as God's gifts, and if we express our gratitude in their enjoyment. He cites Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 and 1 Timothy 4:1-5. I’ve noticed something about pleasure: the highs can be followed by lows. This sounds obvious, but what I mean is that times of joy and fun in life's pleasures are wonderful, and can lift your spirits for a time, but they can be followed by a disappointment that comes from the realization that they are short-lived and will not satisfy us in the long-term. I’m calling this a pleasure hangover. We gain happiness for a time, but see that this happiness is temporary. We therefore feel a subsequent low that leaves us still longing. It reminds me of a theme in the life of C.S. Lewis: sehnsucht , or a wist...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghosts

Exercising at a gym seems to be pretty important in our culture, but it's kind of weird to see the social dynamics when you're there. Usually, if you're running an errand, you see others doing the same thing, going about their days and focusing on what's in front of them. The same thing happens at the gym, only everyone is relatively stationary. They don't really go anywhere, except from one machine or area to another. One might think this lends itself to lots of interaction between members, especially since they're all there for the same purpose, but it isn't true. Not only do people generally avoid talking to one another, but they also avoid even looking at one another. It is as though there is no one else there, even though there are dozens on any given day. Most people follow this unwritten rule, unless something in the environment-- say, two people wanting to use the same set of weights-- gives them common ground to interact, or unless they've alr...
2 comments
Read more

End of an Era

It was over two years ago that I joined an experiment that would last until last July, an experiment that would significantly change me and the eleven others involved. That experiment was the creation of a new church comprised of twelve members whose purpose was to serve the people of downtown Stockton. Most attractive to me about it was that half of our income would be used in some way outside the church, to benefit the local community or to aid in international assistance. In that span of time, we did in fact serve in ways we'd envisioned. One of our first events was a pizza and school supplies giveaway (coupled with games for the kids who came) toward the end of our first summer. Many of those who came seemed genuinely happy at this. Through that year, we also hosted an event called a "card me house party," wherein each person's ticket to the event was a gift card. Once inside, chips could be purchased to play card and other games, with the resulting collection g...
1 comment
Read more