Collateral damage of masculine exchanges between Georgian state and the church

I started reading the new testament recently. Wanted to find some answers to COVID-19 and whether the most sacred book for Georgian Christians could provide any guidance that our religious establishment is not able to. I am a moderate believer; I go to church occasionally. I believe in human goodness and kindness, and I believe in doing no harm. I also believe these core principles are in full compatibility with the Christian religion.

Human nature dictates that when the crisis strikes we all look for shelter. The recent history of independent Georgia (and the history of the country) can attest to many such cases, including when the church has been a shelter for the nation (myths and legends from history books also argue that the Christian religion saved us from multiple VISIBLE enemies).

The crisis of COVID-19 though as alien as it is, exposes the clear needs for the Church to reinvent its role in saving the Georgian nation, but also confirms the inability of the church to unify around the crisis and show much care for its most vulnerable people: those with the most unfavourable health conditions, hundreds of thousands living below the poverty line, and more hundreds of thousands dismissed from their daily jobs without access to basic healthcare and livelihoods.

It remains unclear as to why the Georgian church is so very adamant for gathering mass crowds in the name of God. It is even more unclear as to why the government is leaving the space of Church operations unregulated and untouched under the State of Emergency declaration.

There are clear signs, however, that the Georgian government is avoiding a confrontation with the Church. What is even more disturbing is that the medical community are put at the front lines of bickering with the Church’s political establishment and to take punches. Abandoned by the state on one side, and the Church officials chanting for crowd gathering on the other - medical officials are using scaremongering as they are left with no other means or support to persuade people to stay home to avoid spread of the virus.

The political games between the Government and the Church are not new. We have all seen the attempts of both instrumentalizing the religion and manipulating those most vulnerable. Both the state, and the church are competing for the audience, to win over the support of the nation. The latter needs crowded churches that can help to demonstrate high levels of trust people have in the established institution of Church, whilst the previous is concerned with maintaining its good performance rates - so vital for the upcoming elections later this year.

Meanwhile, ordinary Georgians are facing a dilemma: trust in survival by evidence and medical science (very little trust given how little attention has been given to the healthcare reforms in the country for decades), or trust in survival through faith (familiar but not many are actually convinced their faith is strong enough to avert the virus as an INVISIBLE enemy).

Some Church officials seem very much up for squabbles. They seek for confrontation, not avoidance of it. They look for provocations, not sidestepping from it. Though the government’s response is to ignore such immature actions of “church politicians”, we need more leadership, so we feel this country is run by elected individuals, not a bunch of church appointed officials.

And the only collateral damage in the game of masculine exchanges between the state and the church are us, ordinary citizens, forgotten in the battle for power and control, pushed away from the state, far beyond the comfort of Orthodox Christianity - into agony and confusion for what is next.