Does Our Suffering Matter?

What rituals of renewed faith teach us about overcoming tyrants and false gods

For those who celebrate them, Passover and Easter have a special significance this year as the world grapples with the novel coronavirus now known as COVID-19.

Both religious holidays foreground the determination of a corrupt, undiscerning, and violent despot to stifle a true religion. Each holds out the hope that by passing through a period of sufferin…