There is a quote attributed to G.K. Chesterton: “When a man stops believing in God, he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes in anything”.
Funny how many nonbelievers are quick to judge believers for their “irrational” faith, but will imbue morality and spirituality into places where they shouldn’t be. We have a need for faith and spirituality, that if not properly directed will “believe in anything” as Chesterton says.
Scientism and Morality
Even science. As I wrote in “Scientism, Where is Your God Now?”, published on this site in May 2020:
Bishop Barron often talks about the concept of ‘scientism’ at his wonderful apostolate wordonfire.com. The scientific method of forming a hypothesis and testing it, of observation and classification, is all fantastic and has greatly advanced mankind. However, in scientism, any human knowledge that cannot be proven with the scientific method is invalid. Art, poetry, literature, philosophy, etc are all discredited. Love does not exist. God does not exist.
This Coronavirus crisis has taken a stab at scientism. There was no scientific solution. No cure, no way to contain it. Left and right political parties are in an uproar about their differing opinions. All the science, all the data, the different ways of washing your hands, or making a mask are no more than opinions and theories in development at best.
There has been no physical, scientific solution to getting rid of this problem. There has been no physical, scientific solution at preventing this virus from affecting the entire world on a spiritual, emotional, and psychological level.
This was written before the COVID vaccine came out. People placed their hope in the vaccine with similar nuances to how Israel awaited the Messiah in the Old Testament. You would think that now the vaccine has been distributed throughout the world, and salvation has not come along with it, people would change their solutions from this false morality and “scientism” to something else. Nope. Now, it is the fault of those unvaccinated infidels.
The scientific method should eliminate bias. It should not judge where something is good or bad (that is the role of ethics or philosophy), but instead whether something is true or false. Perhaps you had a biased opinion that something was A, but then you applied the scientific method and came to the conclusion it is in fact B.
When morality gets mixed up, science becomes scientism, and practical measures to counter COVID, which could be varied and still continually studied and developed, become legal and religious commandments.
Ritual and Belief
The rituals of alcohol gel and sanitization, even though it was proven early on that COVID doesn’t stay long on surfaces, resemble Judaic purification rituals. Some people use their alcohol gel when they feel a threat the way a Catholic uses holy water.
Some people watch the numbers, the cases, their rise, their fall, the hospital beds, the schools that close, and especially the narrative that is woven around COVID, the way a Christian reads his Bible every day to hear the Word of God.
The method of evangelization is fear. A Gallup Poll done in September 2021 showed that most people think the risk of hospitalization due to COVID is far greater than it actually is (between 1%-5% at the time). Adding to this fear, are “benefits” for those that are vaccinated like access to places. Some countries like Greece and Austria are starting to fine nonvaccinated individuals.
The saints of this cult are healthcare professionals. They sacrifice their lives and are battling the evil of COVID at the frontlines. All our admiration and the sacrifices we make are for them. A Dr. Fauci Action Figure, made by Mike Leavitt, was available this Christmas on many venues, even on Amazon.
The vaccine can be viewed by some with some startling similarities to the Eucharist. Even though studies are still being carried out and we are not sure if it reduces transmissibility (at least very much), it is an act of faith and salvation not only for whoever receives it but for those around them. It can be received frequently, according to the recommendations of the leaders of the faith, and it is a sign of communion with the COVID cult. Interestingly, many take pictures of themselves receiving the vaccine as one takes pictures of baptism or first communion.
Statements like “Trust the professionals” or “Do you know what goes into your shampoo? Then trust the vaccine.” seem to have little scientific method and more something resembling papal infallibility.
If you are accused of heresy by the fact-checkers, your reputation and sometimes jobs are on the line.
Sinners and Saints
If it were science, we could accept a plurality of solutions and be open to trying different ones. There are political solutions, scientific solutions, and individual choices and those are all different fields. In this COVID cult, however, the fight against COVID is covered in morality from beginning to end. There is “good” and “bad” behavior, “responsible” and “irresponsible”.
Even worse, there are “bad people” and “good people”. Faithful and unfaithful. Believers and nonbelievers. Before it was the grandma killers and those who got together with their families for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Now it is the unvaccinated who are becoming more and more singled out as a group. Markers are assigned to show proof of vaccination. In Sweden digital vaccine passports have turned into a microchip under your skin. In Germany, they have wristbands for kids at school.
Is this ideology, which accompanies solutions to COVID, the religion of the State? Christians used to be thrown to the beasts in the Roman Empire, and still are killed in many regions of the world, when they don’t bow down to the government’s ideology. As Westerners, we take religious freedom for granted, when in reality it is historically common for the State to ask for adherence to a certain ideology and not respect plurality.
This is not so much about whether you decide to take the vaccine or not, but your freedom of conscience, which our Creator values so much. Jews and Christians have a long history of being persecuted by an ideological totalitarian government. We might or not be headed that way, but one thing is for sure: you cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot live by fear and by faith. You cannot have blind faith in the scientific method and in Jesus. You cannot have blind faith in the government and in Jesus. You have to choose. “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Jos 24:15
15 thoughts on “Vaccine, New Eucharist”
Covid is a serious health risk, and deserves to be taken seriously. Yet, nothing the government has imposed has “worked”; not mask mandates, not lockdowns, not travel restrictions, and not the vaccines and vax passports. Track the rise and fall of the waves of case numbers: there is ZERO correlation between the timing of the waves and the timing of government actions. Look at the vax status of the cases: roughly the same proportions (vaxed to unvaxed) as in the general population! None of the promises the government made about “just do this and we’ll get back to normal” have come true. Governments have used covid as an excuse to impose controls on society, like a cart hitched to a horse. Not only have their actions NOT WORKED at stopping the covid disease, but the actions have caused untold misery. Suicides are up, drug overdoses are up, cancer & heart treatments have been deferred & that is causing deaths. People have lost employment and are now in poverty (itself a health risk), and inflation is making everyone poorer. As one fellow in India said–“closing the place where I work means I can’t buy food. What is the point of saving me from covid if I’m just going to starve to death?” How can goverment leaders and public health authorities look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed of all the damage they have done and are continuing to do? Absolute hubris! They need to admit their mistakes and stop torturing their own citizens with these USELESS and HARMFUL actions!!!
Well thought out and written perfectly… You hit this topic “outta the park” as the saying goes… I personally have mixed thoughts on the vaccine, but for the part of me that agrees, I couldn’t agree more. May Mary’s Immaculate Conception be our refuge, health and protection.
Julie thanks much for bringing to light the serious issues involved with the forced submission to the taking of these shots. It does appear to many of us that there are grave evil forces at work in our world today.
Serious considerations of conscience are being discounted. Legitimate concerns about the health impact of these experimental products are likewise being discounted. Also ignored is the likelihood that the heavy handed compulsion so evident may well be a precursor to greater and more extensive social controls which will be set in place and maintained long after covid has ceased to be a threat.
The products, made by unquestionably illicit, immoral means, have not been proven safe or effective.They are experimental, with no knowledge whatsoever as to long term, adverse health risks. Health authorities have been less than transparent with data. Active efforts are made to censor not just “crazy”, off the wall cynics, but reasonable, well credentialed, and highly knowledgeable opinions. People are being forced to “consent” to the taking of these shots by threatened loss of employment with the attendant loss of income and loss of ability to support one’s family that is thereby entailed; all without any protest from those Catholics who should be most insistent on supporting basic human rights and human dignity.
Further, this so-called “act of love” presumes that these injections actually do stop the spread of disease and do so without also endangering individual and/or public health. There are good reason to question whether it does. These views are again, being censored. Reasonable questions are not permitted and answers to objections have not been forthcoming. Further, these products are for all purposes, experimental, with absolutely no assurance they will not result in long term adverse health risks.
I am very disappointed that so very many Catholics have turned a blind eye to the serious issues you have raised. Given some of the responses so far, it’s hard not to be pessimistic. Yet we know that God’s truth will prevail in due course. It always does.
@Capt. Crisis, 12:35p-
Not sure who or what you were responding to. Your comparisons with Typhoid Mary fall flat and your point isn’t well supported in any event. You might have a point if there was proof that the injected were immune. They are not. Further, there is no proof that those who refuse to be injected are spreaders to a greater extent than those who have been injected. None. There have been assertions, conjecture etc. No proof. Injections are not even designed to prevent transmission. Vast numbers of cases are reported among the injected. You seem to have been sold a bill of goods.
What a pity, to mix vaccines and religion, what a pity, to oppose science and faith! Vaccines, as medicine, are a gift from God. Nothing good comes from any other place than God Himself. But whether you believe this or not, please just don’t demonize or idolatrize vaccines, because they are just that, vaccines, not a religion, not an ideology, only vaccines… Comparison between taking the vaccine and taking Holy Communion is really an ideological stand, because nobody, in their right mind, makes such an association. It is like comparing potatoes with stars. It is actually a little bit offensive, making such a comparison, for a Christian who gets vaccinated.
Thank you for your comments Captcrisis, Kyle and Teresa. I definitely think you are right in expressing your opinions. The point I was trying to make is, are the unvaccinated also free to express theirs? Can there be scientific, non-moralistic debate or is there persecution for the heretics and is there an Inquisition set up? As I said in the last paragraph, it’s indifferent to me whether others want to get vaccinated or not.
In the case of “Typhoid Mary”, who demonstrably carried an often-fatal communicative disease, had in fact infected many, but refused treatment and refused to quarantine herself, court-enforced isolation was necessary. I’m sure you agree with that.
Somewhere short of this extreme case is the case of a vaccine refuser who may well be infecting others with a sometimes-fatal disease.
There are not two sides to this. A vaccine refuser (that is, someone who does not have a clear medical reason to refuse) is not to be accorded the same deference in their opinion as someone who adheres to what is medically known so as to limit spreading the infection to the extent possible.
Julie, I’m in agreement with Capt on this one. And the pope for that matter. There cannot be a “non-moralistic” debate regarding something that has a definite moral aspect. The pope has said getting vaccinated is the charitable (loving) thing to do because it shows concern for one’s neighbor (as well as yourself). He is correct about this. By not getting vaccinated, one shows a definite lack of concern for their neighbor and their well-being. Getting vaccinated or not vaccinated is absolutely a moral decision.
There is also no inquisition going on. That comparison is offensive to those who lived through the actual Inquisition. One can make their choice on getting vaccinated or not, and then they can accept the consequences. If they make the wrong choice – and choose not to get vaccinated – those consequences might include the loss of employment, or having to get tested frequently, or not being able to attend certain events/activities. That choice is still theirs.
Finally, the data you reference is wrong. And it has no bearing on the discussion. I measure deaths for a living. COVID killed a lot of people – almost certainly more than the official tally. The vaccines have not. Deaths in large populations are relatively predictable. You can tell when something new starts killing people off – and COVID was incredibly obvious in the data. What is also incredibly obvious in the data? That the vaccines do not materially add to the recipient’s mortality risk, but they do significantly reduce the recipient’s chances of dying from COVID. This is not up for debate. Period. It is as clear as can be. There are plenty of questions that are up for debate when we dig into details (i.e. how protective are they against spreading the virus by variant), but the high level outcomes I stated above are not in question. It is beyond obvious.
Whether to get vaccinated is a moral decision. There is a right and a wrong. Like the pope (both of them in fact), I urge you to choose love and get vaccinated.
You could just as easily say that Covid deaths are underreported because many died without being tested.
“Take 6% of your figure and you more likely have an accurate estimate.“
Where did you get this number from?
As for where the vaccine came from, take that up with the Church. It’s fine with it.
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I hadn’t followed Barron for a while, but that quote from him surprises me. That quote represents pure stupidity. There are plenty of things we didn’t know, but he (I assume on purpose) conflates things we know with things that were under legitimate scientific debate. If Catholicism asks you to be dumb to be a member – if serving God means choosing willful ignorance – I’m out. God gave us our ability to reason for a purpose. He gave us our intellect for a purpose. Any religion that tells you to ignore those gifts isn’t a religion of God.
Capt-Don’t force your morality on me- especially by law or regulation or assumed total power. To paraphrase-keep your rosaries off my DNA. Guy, Texas
Did you object when your child was required to get the polio vaccine? Or the diphtheria? MMR?
1 out of 6 Americans has now had COVID, at one point or another.
1 out of 400 have died from it.
I don’t understand this continued demonization of people who are trying to save lives. In Biden’s case, by pushing for vaccinations the lives he is trying to save are mostly Republican lives, because Republicans are the ones resisting.
Take the vaccine. And the booster. Wear a mask. Social distance. We are in this together.
@”1 out of 400 have died from it.”
With all due respect how could you possibly know that? Fauci has belatedly acknowledged the distinction of dying “from ” and dying “with” Covid. Others have pointed out this distinction for at least a year and a half. Take 6% of your figure and you more likely have an accurate estimate.
As for demonization, who is being demonized for dutifully taking the shot? Those who are demonized are those facing loss of employment and careers because of their right to refuse a product of questionable efficacy and safety.
By the way, if the products you mentioned in response to Guy had been derived from use and testing of cells from organs taken from murdered slave labor and/or concentration camp victims, how do you think the world would have responded? Personally I can’t imagine the products would have been made in the first place and rightly so. What do you think?