(RNS) — Emily Smith didn’t realize there was such a divide between faith and science for many Christians.
Smith’s parents led worship at a charismatic church — “just a fantastic experience and upbringing” — and she married a Baptist pastor. She studied science and medicine because she dreamed of becoming a medical missionary. She volunteered in the kitchen and made balloon animals aboard Mercy Ships in Honduras while in college. Eventually, she became an epidemiologist.
For her, epidemiology was a natural way to live out her Christian beliefs, loving her neighbor the way Jesus commanded and caring for the most vulnerable — like the “good Samaritan” of Jesus’ parable did when he stopped to care for an injured man while others passed by.
“My first (Facebook) post on faith was about the good Samaritan because I see the field of epidemiology as that: Quantify who’s the vulnerable, and we don’t walk by,” said Smith, now 40 and assistant professor of epidemiology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Then came COVID-19, a time when she thought Christians — with their commitment to “love thy neighbor” — might shine.
Smith started Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist, a Facebook page, in March 2020 to share information about the novel coronavirus and answer questions she was hearing from her neighbors and friends. Yes, COVID-19 was something they should pay attention to. No, they didn’t need to hoard toilet paper.
Since then, the page, written in Smith’s friendly, informational voice, has grown to more than 96,000 followers. About half are evangelical Christians, she said.
But threats and pushback have also followed — all but one from her fellow Christians. She has been sent pictures of guns, handwritten letters about the “mark of the beast” and the End Times, messages telling her she should leave the preaching to her husband or telling her she is going to hell.
