Americans are angry. The country erupted into the worst civil unrest in decades after the death of George Floyd, and anger about police violence and the country’s legacy of racism is still running high. At the same time, we’re dealing with anger provoked by the coronavirus pandemic: anger at public officials because they’ve shut down parts of society, or anger because they aren’t doing enough to curb the virus. Anger about being required to wear a mask, or anger toward people who refuse to wear a mask. Anger at anyone who doesn’t see things the “right” way.

“We’re living, in effect, in a big anger incubator,” said Raymond Novaco, a psychology professor at UC Irvine. According to psychiatrist Joshua Morganstein, the country is now dealing with “three disasters superimposed on top of one another”: the pandemic, the economic fallout, and civil unrest. He said, “Certainly, one way of responding, and a common way of responding, is anger.”

Surveys over the past few years suggested that anger had risen in the country even before the 2020 crises. A Gallup poll conducted in 2018, for example, concluded that Americans’ stress, worry, and anger had intensified that year. Twenty-two percent of Americans had felt anger the previous day, up from 17 percent a year earlier.

Possible Preaching Angle:

More than ever before it is important for Christians to possess the “peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7) by walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), trusting in our Heavenly Father (Ps. 112:7), and showing hope to a desperate world (1 Pet. 3:15)

Source:

Elizabeth Chang, “Americans are living in a big ‘anger incubator,” The Washington Post (6-30-20)