R.R. Reno, editor of First Things, wrote an interesting article “Say No To Death’s Dominion” about how Christian moral teaching doesn’t give credence to this inordinate fear of death that is utilized to rationalize a total societal-economic lock-down in the United States and elsewhere in reaction to an illness less deadly than the common cold.
“Yesterday, Governor Cuomo saw young people playing basketball in a New York City park. ‘It has to stop and it has to stop now,’ he commanded. Everyone must live under death’s dominion.'”
“Alexander Solzhenitsyn resolutely rejected the materialist principle of ‘survival at any price.’ It strips us of our humanity. This holds true for a judgment about the fate of others as much as it does for ourselves. We must reject the specious moralism that places fear of death at the center of life.”
“Fear of death and causing death is pervasive—stoked by a materialistic view of survival at any price and unchecked by Christian leaders who in all likelihood secretly accept the materialist assumptions of our age. As long as we allow fear to reign, it will cause nearly all believers to fail to do as Christ commands in Matthew 25.”