A practicing Catholic for 29 years, Vacacela, always thought something was missing from her religion. A key part of her new church liturgy is close reading of the Bible, unlike the Catholic practice. She reads the Bible daily and interprets the readings to help her with everyday life. 

“I feel like I get the knowledge about things that I don’t know to make decisions. Like using a GPS when you are driving to an uncertain place,” said Vacacela, a human resources manager. 

Finding a sense of meaning  has been especially true with the onset of the coronavirus which she believes was predicted in the Bible, especially by the use of the word “pestilence.” Vacacela refers to Bible passage on Mathew 24:7,

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” 

Another passage is Luke 21:11, 

“and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” 

These passages and others hold deep meaning for Vacacel and thousands of others who turn to the Bible for solace and answers during the pandemic. Americans seem almost evenly divided about Bible predictions of this pandemic. About 44 percent of Americans who said they believe the coronavirus is a wakeup call to turn back to faith in God and the signs of coming judgment, according to a survey by The Joshua Fund, an education organization. However, the same survey found that 47 percent of Americans believe the coronavirus has nothing to do with the Bible or God’s prophecy.  

Leslier Uribe, 21, a human resource assistant, also believes the coronavirus was predicted in the Bible. She attends the same church in Jackson Heights as Vacacela. She too refers to the Bible’s use of  the word “pestilence,” and says it’s a sign of the end of times.  She cites the book of Revelation chapter 22 verse 12,

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 

What does give her hope is the increase in the number of people who have joined  her church for online services, including some non-believers. “I don’t know if after this happens if people will continue with the same enthusiasm, desire, and the same need if seeking God,” said Uribe. 

The coronavirus can change people’s behavior, although sometimes only on a temporary basis.  It’ll be like a sugar high,” says  Juan Hernadez, a professor of Biblical Studies at Bethel University, “It’ll change it for a while and go back to normal. But others will learn lessons from it and perhaps plan better.” 

Professor Hernandez does not believe the coronavirus was predicted in the Bible. He said that for centuries people have turned to the Bible to make connections to current events. “If there was a candidate for a physical fulfillment, it might be the Black Plague where one-third of the world population was devastated; this doesn’t compare.” said Hernandez. 

He explains that the Bible can be read as a historical narrative or as a prophecy. While the coronavirus can be linked to the use of “pestilence,”  it’s important to read the full passage. “The descriptions are so vague that they have multiple applications,” said Hernandez.

Herandez recently hosted a live screening online with a pastor where both answered questions from people who believe the pandemic is a reflection of God’s judgment. “Irrespective of whether it is judgment or not, it is an opportunity to reflect and recalibrate who we are and what we’re doing,” he said. 

Some other Christians wonder whether the pandemic is a sign of the return of Jesus Christ. In a study made a decade ago, Pew Research surveyed that forty-one percent of Americans expect Jesus to return by 2050 while forty-six percent disagree. 

Mayte Felix, 22,  doesn’t believe  the pandemic is a sign yet of Jesus’ imminent return,  “Before Jesus returns there are going to be all kinds of things that are going to happen but no one knows,” said Felix. “It’s going to be like a thief in the night, so it can be one of the signs or not. We don’t know exactly when to expect God.”  

Felix attends  “Sobre La Roca,” a Pentecostal church in San Diego, California where her parents are pastors. Although she sometimes feels a little discouraged she prays and has faith  that everything will be alright. After losing two jobs because of Covid-related layoffs, she has sought God more through prayer.  

Mayte’s mom, Maythe Felix, is among those who  believe the coronavirus was predicted in the Bible. “I definitely don’t believe the end of the world is right now, but I do believe we are seeing the last signs of  the end of times,” said  Felix, a pastor at a Pentecostal church. “After this pandemic, the world will never be the same, it will be harder for humanity.” 

Because of social distancing the church closed and now offers online service three times a week.  About 75 homes are tuning in to their online services reaching more than one person per home. “I believe we have grown as a church. People tell us, I’ve shared the link to my dad, I’ve shared it with my brother, with my friend,” said Felix. 

The people have been asking Felix and her husband, Carlos also a pastor, about the last signs and our thoughts. “We responded by saying we must prepare because nobody knows the day or time he will come, but we must be ready.” However, now going into the sixth week people have calmed down and have been praying more. 

During the service she and her parishioners have been studying the Bible more and reviewing the prophecies of Christ’s return.

“We are praying more, asking God to restore our hearts, clean us, and prepare us because the Bible says without holiness no one will see him,” said Pastor Felix. Hernandez agrees with that approach. “The bottom line with the Bible is not so much when but to persevere, to be faithful, irrespective of the circumstances,” he said.   

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Pastor Michael Rivera praying over Spanish Evangelical Church members in the East Village. Photo by Corrie Mitchell.

Pastor Michael Rivera is a registered Republican who hasn’t yet decided how he’ll vote on Nov. 6. As a Latino evangelical he has the difficult choice of voting in the best interest of most of his congregants or in line with his own closely held conservative convictions.

“The Latino evangelical has a major decision to make,” said the 34-year-old Rivera, who was born in Puerto Rico and leads the Spanish Evangelical Church in the East Village at 76 Second Avenue, an affiliate of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Rivera, who lives in Ridgefield, N.J., has been the lead pastor there for a year and a half now, and before that served as the assistant pastor at this 62-year-old church for eight years.

As an evangelical, Rivera shares the GOP’s conservative values, he explained, including a strong opposition to abortion (though he cites differences within the party and evangelicals regarding circumstances such as rape) and the belief that marriage, a Biblical covenant, should be protected—between only a man and woman.

And yet, he said, “The Latino has another perspective, because he or she is a minority,” noting the number of social programs that matter greatly to Latinos in his congregation, such as welfare and food stamps. Republicans tend to minimize, oppose or ignore these as election issues. “It’s a Catch-22,” he said. “It’s very, very difficult. “

Felipe Narvaez, a 58-year-old member of Rivera’s church who lives on East 26th Street, is a native Puerto Rican who originally considered not voting in this election. Given that neither candidate shares Narvaez’s evangelical background, the decision for him was hard. Narvaez is a registered Democrat who said that after much prayer, he realized he needed to vote. Setting aside religion as a factor, he decided to vote for the sitting president.

“I don’t think four years was enough,” Narvaez said. “I feel, and I pray, that he’s going to move forward.” He also said that he looked favorably on President Barack Obama’s family-man image, as well as Michelle Obama’s involvement in her husband’s politics.

The choice was no struggle for another of Rivera’s church members, Edward Lopez. He is also a committed Latino evangelical (actually Palestinian and Mexican on his father’s side, Spanish and Puerto Rican on his mother’s) who is registered to vote as a Democrat. He feels certain Obama will win the election.

“I’ve asked God to give me answers, and my heart dictates that,” Lopez, a Bronx resident, said. “I believe it’s God’s will. I believe Obama is a tool for God’s will and for carrying out His prophecies.”

Latino evangelicals make up 16 percent of all Latino registered voters, a group that now constitutes 11 percent of the national electorate, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Lopez and Narvaez’s support of the incumbent appears to be common in this group. The poll indicated that 50 percent of Latino evangelical Protestants support Obama, compared to 19 percent of white evangelicals, while 39 percent of Latino evangelicals favor the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, compared to 74 percent of white evangelicals.

Lopez believes that the average income level in the Latino community accounts for this evangelical split. A September report by the U.S. Census Bureau found that one in four Latinos were living below the poverty line in 2011, and that the median annual household income for this demographic was $38,624. “There’s barely anybody that could be considered middle class in our congregation,” he said.

Pastor Rivera said another reason for the difference is that white evangelical voters tend to be less enamored of government-sponsored social programs. To be able to pull oneself up by the bootstraps with some government assistance comes harder for Latinos, he said.

“If your last name is Vasquez or Lopez,” he said, “your application might not be viewed the same as if your last name is Smith.” Simply put, prejudice is still an issue that this minority group faces.

“Being a minority, I feel that has a lot to do with it,” said Narvaez of the Latino evangelical tendency to vote Democratic. He explained that many Latinos, particularly the older or illiterate voters, would rather cast their vote for an African American than a white candidate. Narvaez worked in real estate before he became disabled.

As for Pastor Rivera, he does not preach politics when he stands in front of his congregation of 100 or so members seated in wooden pews with fleurs-de-lis carved into the backs of the benches. On Sunday meetings at 11:30 a.m., with a backlit, pointed cross behind him and above his head the words “SANTIDAD A JEHOVA,” or, in English, Holiness to the Lord, his sermons focus on the Bible. He will not even tell his congregants which candidate he plans to vote for when they come seeking his advice about the election. He tells them to vote based on who most closely represents their values. They must weigh the moral versus the societal issues.

Lopez, for his part, sees this presidential election as a choice between “the lesser of two evils.” As a 16-year veteran of Wall Street who worked in trading systems and technology, originally at Swiss Bank (now UBS), Lopez noted that economics and the deficit play as much a role in his considerations of the candidates as do the Bible and prophecies.

Pastor Rivera does not share the disdain for or discomfort with Romney’s Mormon faith that a number of white evangelical religious leaders, such as Internet evangelist Bill Keller,have publicly expressed. He said the Republican’s religious beliefs would have no influence on his decision in the voting booth. “He’s no more or less Christian than Obama,” he said, adding that he takes a more inward look at the person, rather than at the religion he might profess. And yet, he said, “I’m still at a conundrum, still torn.”

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A coalition of Catholic orders called Nuns on the Bus took to the road this summer to protest the Ryan budget’s affects on the poor
Photo Courtesy of tvnewsbadge

Catholic groups hope to exert an influence on voters and politicians ahead of Tuesday’s elections, but they find themselves at odds with other Catholic organizations as they struggle to determine how to turn church principles into policy.

Roman Catholics make up 23.9 percent of the population, according to a 2007 Pew Research poll. But, unlike Evangelical Protestants, who make up 26.3 percent and who strongly favor socially conservative policies, Catholics are spread across the political spectrum. Far from being a voting bloc in the Nov. 6 elections, they are sharply divided over abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage and poverty.

Both Vice President Joe Biden and the Republican aspirant, Paul Ryan, are Roman Catholics—a first time for a head-to-head at that level. But Ryan said during their one debate that his faith inspires his opposition to abortion while Biden, who supports abortion rights, said he objects to imposing religious beliefs on others.

The Catholic Association, based in Washington, D.C., gave Obama a failing grade on its Freedom of Religion scorecard, which measures how well a politician protects the association’s interpretation of religious values. The group gave his rival, Republican nominee Mitt Romney, an A-plus.

Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the association, said that “increasingly, there’s a notion that religion is something that should be private.” The group refers to Biden’s comment during the debate that he separates his policy-making from his faith.

The Catholic Association plans to circulate more than 500,000 of its scorecards in the battleground state of Ohio. It makes its voting guide available in both English and Spanish. According to a Gallup poll conducted in April, Hispanic Catholics support Obama by an overwhelming majority.

For the past decade, the Knights of Columbus has quietly worked to block same-sex marriage. The organization, which was founded in 1881 by Father Michael McGivney, the son of Irish immigrants, now includes 1.9 million members and is known for providing food and housing services to the poor, funded by donations and a top-rated life-insurance service.

According to tax returns for the Knights of Columbus, the organization has given more than $6 million since 2005 to groups seeking to ban same-sex marriage. This year, the Knights gave to such campaigns in all four states where an initiative on the matter is on the ballot, including donations of $250,000 each in Washington State and Maryland.
The Knights of Columbus did not reply to requests for an interview. It recently released a statement expressing support for “the bishops of the Catholic Church” and the church’s teaching on “moral issues.”

One of the flashpoints for Catholics concerns the contraception mandate that is part of Obama’s Affordable Care Act; the mandate requires that all health insurance plans cover preventive health services, including FDA-approved forms of birth control. Though the administration exempted religious organizations such as churches, a public spat ensued.
American bishops declared that the policy violates the “conscience rights” of Catholic-affiliated universities and hospitals. The bishops’ stance inspired grassroots organization as well. Catholics for Freedom of Religion, founded by Barbara Samuells and five other volunteers, opposes the mandate for the same reasons as The Catholic Association. Samuells says that mandating contraceptive coverage is not a compelling “government interest,” especially when birth control is available at clinics for “pennies.”

Both Catholics for Freedom of Religion and the Catholic Association opposed the president’s proposed compromise to exempt all religious organizations and non-profits but require insurance companies to pay for and absorb the costs of providing contraception.

The Nuns on the Bus see these issues as secondary, even contrary to the mission of the church. A coalition of sisterly orders, the Nuns on the Bus made waves with a nine-state tour this summer highlighting social justice issues and protesting the budget cuts proposed by Ryan. When the nuns reached Marietta, Ohio, they faced a protest themselves from the Marietta 9-12 Project, a Tea Party-like group inspired by television personality Glenn Beck.

The protesters held signs supporting Romney and Ryan and attacking abortion, which the sisters do not explicitly oppose.

A supporter of Nuns on the Bus and her little sister
Photo Courtesy of tvnewsbadge

The sisters see cuts to programs for the poor and working classes in the Republicans’ budget as crises of justice. They consider the Obama White House an ally. Network, the group that runs Nuns on the Bus, compiled policy proposals for the transition documents when Obama was newly elected. Network was also a vocal supporter of the Affordable Care Act.

Sister Marge Clark, Network’s lobbyist for domestic human needs, says that “the underlying federal budget should be formed on the needs of the people” because the United States has a responsibility to focus on poverty.

But the Vatican wants the nuns to keep their noses out of the books. Earlier this year, the church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rebuked Network for being “silent” on the issues of gay marriage and abortion.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops takes the same position as Network on poverty, saying in a letter to the House of Representatives that the House budget failed to “protect and not undermine the needs of poor and vulnerable people.”

But the church has not taken a stance against the Romney/Ryan ticket. Ryan says his budget is guided by “the church’s social teaching.” Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the bishops’ conference, calls Ryan a “great public servant.”

But Ryan’s plan to convert food stamps and Medicaid to block grants and to slash funding will certainly affect the poor. If he’s serious that his budget is in line with the church’s teaching to help the needy, Ryan is putting a great deal of faith in the private sector to step in and provide for America’s most vulnerable.

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