Can We Restore Faith in Faiths After Corona?

"I'm not upset that you lied to me. I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you." Friedrich Nietzsche

One of the casualties of the Corona policies since 2020 has been, sadly, trust in orgainized religion. There are a variety of reasons for this, and unless we face them honestly, it could take decades to restore faith organizations to their previous role in society.

So why did religion take such a hit during the lockdowns? Perhaps the perception of impotence, not against a pathogen, but rather oppressive policies by local and national government bodies. As we saw when Pope John Paul stood up against communist tyranny, people rallied against the power of the state - a state that had for decades sought to repress religion, or at least subjugate it for its own ends.  Faith took down communism in Europe. Faith in eastern Europe and Russia is far stronger than in western Europe. This may be a big reason why.

So what did we see when governments pushed lockdowns, masks, and shots, very often against people's will if they were not convinced they needed to comply? Most religions not only complied, but joined with the government to promote these policies. Perhaps they did so because they did not want their churches closed for months or years, but it doesn't matter, many of the most devout saw it as impotence at best, compliance and manipulation at worst.

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And here is the problem that will take years to mend. During the Black Death, people lost blind faith in Rome because, at first, the plague was seen as a punishment against sinful people. Yet they soon observed that priests and nuns were dying as frequently as regular people. While people did not turn to atheism, their blind trust in the papasy was shattered, and this planted the seeds for various reformations in the future.  On a related note, Sigmund Freud turned against his family's Jewish faith was due to his seeing his father's weakness when confronted by anti-Semites. A loss of faith often occurs when trust is violated, when a strong image is shattered, and that's when questioning begins.

Of course, I am not suggesting that people are turning against God, but some people who might have said they trusted their religious leaders are no longer willing to give blind faith. Many have actually become stronger in their beliefs, on a personal or family level, but people who several years ago may have leaned forward in a sermon to listen intently now might sit back in the pew, arms crossed and analyzing what they are hearing.  People needed to have someone in their corner at least questioning draconian policies, but instead they were left alone and isolated, with nobody taking their side.

And so, what of the millions of people not in churches anymore? Hopefully they will come back, but the problem is, many fell out of the habit of attendance on Sundays, while others got angry and disappointed and are not returning anytime soon. Trust is a hard thing to restore, and it will take a lot of time to get it back. But is is possible to do so?

More and more people realize that the entertainment industry and the media are PR extensions of the US government, more specifically, the faction that Dwight Eisenhower warned us against. They don't want their religion to also become an arm of that entity.  This means religious leaders need to follow the examples of those who did stand up to the assault on personal liberty. They also need to cease being timid in the face of evil. At no time in our history have both traditional values and freedom been under such a powerful threat, and those religious leaders who do offer a viable alternative, who are not afraid to call out evil, will gain respect and fill their pews. We as human beings know right from wrong, and despite the advanced psychological warfare waged by the so-called "elite" people will recognize the importance of values and gravitate towards them.