In the face of an ongoing pandemic that has already taken over 170,000 American lives, the most effective individual action that can be taken to prevent further loss of life is simple: wear a mask. A recent news story that emerged from a Missouri hair salon attests to the importance of this simple measure. In July, two of the salon’s stylists tested positive for COVID-19, but remarkably, because they had consistently worn masks while working, none of the 139 customers they served while infected ended up contracting the virus. A study conducted in May by researchers in Hong Kong provides data to support this anecdotal evidence. The scientists found that airborne transmission of COVID-19 occurred nearly 67 percent of the time when no masks were worn. In contrast, when the infected subject wore a mask, the infection rate dropped by half, and when both parties wore a mask, the risk of transmitting the virus dropped to just 15 percent.
In most other countries, mask-wearing is as prevalent and innocuous as it is effective. However, the United States, with over 5.5 million cases and counting — or surging, rather — is another story. Among Americans, masks have become not only controversial, but highly politicized. A Pew Research survey from June found that 63 percent of Democrats agreed that masks should be worn in public places at all times, while only 29 percent of Republicans believed the same. No doubt the example set by President Trump, who first donned a mask in mid-July — more than three months after the pandemic began — has contributed greatly to this polarization. It is no wonder, then, as Pew reports, that nearly a quarter of Republicans say masks should never or rarely be worn in public, compared to just four percent of Democrats. A recent projection by University of Washington scientists found that 45,000 or more additional deaths could be prevented if 95 percent of Americans were to wear masks in public spaces. This means that resistance to masks, especially by Republican officials who have a public responsibility to set the right example, is now not just irresponsible, but deadly.
Not only does this issue have immediate life-or-death consequences for thousands of Americans, it highlights a broader problem afflicting US culture: extreme individualism. Individualism here does not mean the benign freedom of personal choices and self-expression, which is indeed an essential element of the American experiment. Rather, it refers to a more pernicious attitude in which extreme personal autonomy blocks the ability to accept and defer to what is right and true. In other words, a person’s individual attitudes and opinions become supreme, and consideration for the common good falls by the wayside. It is an ideology as degrading to society as it is antithetical to Christian faith.
Pope Francis himself in a 2017 address decried individualism as “exalt[ing] the selfish ideal,” whereby “…it is only the individual who gives values to things and interpersonal relationships,” and worse, where it is “only the individual who decides what is good and what is bad.” In a letter released by the Vatican in 2018, the plague of individualism today is described as a modern reflection of the ancient heresies of Pelagianism and Gnosticism. The Pelagians, who taught that God’s grace was unnecessary and that free will alone could allow humans to attain salvation, and the Gnostics, who emphasized personal religious experience over the teachings and knowledge of the Church, share much in common with the individualists of today. Like those ancient heretics, too many people today are effectively gods within themselves — they distrust authority and expertise, for they are their own source of truth and wisdom.
Thus, the refusal by many Americans, but especially Republicans, to wear masks in order to stop the spread of a deadly pandemic is just the latest manifestation of this deep affliction of the Western mind. To be sure, this is not just a problem affecting conservatives. The progressive mantra of “speaking your truth” — which implies that truth is nothing more than personal experience — is evidence enough that this mindset holds sway among Democrats as with Republicans, just in different ways. However, this attitude is more troubling — and in fact hypocritical — among conservatives, because of the two major political parties, the GOP is the only one which retains at least ostensible loyalty to Judeo-Christian values. The Democrats of today, meanwhile, are hardly a party of faith, so it is not shocking to see such an un-Christian mindset find a home there.
Why, then, has the individualist mindset, so antithetical to Christian life, become entrenched even among many religious conservatives? Part of the problem is that the decline of orthodox Christian belief that has been occurring in this country for the last fifty-odd years has now also begun to affect the GOP, the party of the religious right. Polling data since 2016 consistently shows that President Trump, whose character and public persona represent a marked departure from the sincere religious grounding of past Republican presidents, draws his support disproportionately from voters who attend church infrequently or never. Republican voters who regularly attend religious services, meanwhile, give Trump significantly lower approval ratings. While church attendance does not necessarily indicate authentic faith, it does provide some sense of greater adherence to orthodox Christian practice with respect to doctrine and communal life — the opposite of the self-oriented, individualistic pseudo-faith that Pope Francis has said “denies the common good.”
Humans are intrinsically social creatures — indeed, we are designed to be. From the home, to the school or church or workplace, to the halls of government, we have a responsibility not just to ourselves but to others. One silver lining of this pandemic is that people are confronted with this truth. The best we can hope for during this dire time —and afterwards — is that all Americans, but especially conservatives, who should be a beacon of Christian life to our post-Christian society, will be galvanized to step outside themselves, and with each action, consider the common good.