Daily Archives: October 3, 2021

In the religious war over vaccines and masking, Covid non-believers have chosen to immunise themselves from reality, not the virus.

On August 4 this year, long-time American conservative radio talk show host Dick Farrel died from Covid-19 after previously insisting to his audience that the pandemic was a SCAM DEMIC, that the vaccine is Bogus Bull [Shit], and suggesting that the delta variant is an elaborate ruse orchestrated to keep Americans fearing for their lives.

Upon contracting the virus, Farrel abruptly recanted his previously held convictions, reportedly telling a close friend to get vaccinated because Covid-19 is no joke and adding that I wish I had gotten [vaccinated]! Farrel had fallen into a Covid foxhole and died there, no longer a Covid atheist but dead, nevertheless.

The phrase, There are no atheists in foxholes is pithy, pointed, poignant and pertinent for todays religious wars over Covid and its vaccines and masks. The intention of the aphorism is to make it plain that given the existential dread of finding yourself in a First World War foxhole, few, if any, would hold on to a worldview with no hope of miracle, redemption, or life after death. It is a statement that principles are often no match for a confounding reality.

This is no more evident than in the current skirmishing over vaccines and masking. I say skirmishing a minor combat with much noise and usually no casualties because if the Covid war gets real infection, hospitalisation, gasping to breathe and hoping to survive with the realisation that you, like the shell-shocked of World War One, may never be the same again - it seems that there are few who will be able to maintain their skeptical stance.

Now, if the Covid atheists those who seriously doubt the reality of the situation were mere bystanders, their presence might be nothing more than a social curiosity. Cruelly and paradoxically, those who most strenuously deny the reality of Covid and the measures we have to mitigate it are now the most likely to perpetuate its existence.

The atheists are getting sick, spreading the virus to others, and serving as the petri dish for new variants. That they are also dying from the disease they trivialised begets a mirthless schadenfreude. Ironically, the pandemic will go on longer because of the resistance of the Covid deniers.

When Covid does become real, there is instantly a trust in the care and the knowledge of the medical community, so recently vilified as untrustworthy and misguided. If it wasnt so pathetic it might also be considered ironic.

The health care that they expect, and are entitled to, is, in my country, Canada, funded by all (a majority of whom are not Covid atheists) and whatever resources go to treating Covid are unable to be utilised for other health concerns. When the hospitals are overrun with Covid cases in the unvaccinated and other citizens with serious health concerns are denied access to treatment, there is no great justice to be found.

It is far too easy to be a Covid non-believer and angry about the impositions it has led to. Most of us have only a distant connection to the actual illness but we all have a vivid, personal lived experience of Covid restrictions.

Covid-19 is a relatively mild plague. Case fatality rates are about 2 percent and many (perhaps 75 percent) who get (and spread) the infection are never counted as cases. Although 10 percent of documented infections result in significant consequences, 90 percent of documented cases will escape with nothing of lasting significance.

These numbers certainly can support a laissez-faire attitude towards the virus, however, with another, broader, perspective, it means that at least 20 million worldwide will die before the pandemic ends.

To put this in perspective, the scourge of cancer, fought relentlessly and with few atheists, kills about 10 million people worldwide every year. Had Covid-19 been as lethal as the 1918 pandemic (about 5 percent case-fatality rate), annual deaths would easily exceed those from cancer and almost everyone would either be in the Covid foxhole or have a close friend or family member in one. This would certainly mean fewer Covid atheists and a clearer path to ending the pandemic.

Now, some of the Covid non-believers are simply healthy skeptics, perhaps better termed agnostics with unanswered questions. Others are just lazy-minded, sipping conveniently and unreflectively from the tainted offerings of social media.

Many, however, are principled in their atheism. They will vigorously deny the legitimacy of scientific inquiry and defend their freedom to gather unvaccinated, unmasked, and un-distanced for whatever purpose they desire.

Not spoken aloud but always present in the subtext is the unshakeable belief that my rights to liberty Trump (pun intended) your rights to safety. I suspect that all varieties of Covid atheists seek immunity from the realities of the pandemic in their own form of herd mentality.

For the agnostics, I recommend a respectful dialogue with other viewpoints, with the expectation of more mutual understanding. For the lazy-minded, I recommend a healthier diet of information along with some vigorous exercise of the mind. For the true atheists, there is little to say other than you are entitled to your beliefs although not entitled to inflict the consequences of those beliefs on the rest of us.

One might think that the mass of Covid disbelievers would be a serious challenge to successfully quelling the pandemic. Many ultimately victorious campaigns started as principled guerilla movements against the established order. Sticking to your principles, even to death or personal injury, is an admirable trait, even if it seems misguided at times.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian pastor, was hanged for his refusal to bow to Nazism. A patient of mine, a young Jehovahs Witness woman, chose death from loss of blood after giving birth by refusing a transfusion. Kamikaze pilots fought their enemies with a fierce, fatal determination.

Among Covid atheists however, I suspect there are very few willing to go to the proverbial wall where the firing squad may be aiming. Despite all the noisy (and noisome) protesting, just being prevented from going to their favourite bar or taking a Caribbean vacation is sufficient for many anti-vaxxers to jettison their supposedly deeply ingrained principles.

For all three varieties of Covid disbelievers (in countries with easy access to vaccines), governments should do their duty to protect all their citizens by reasonably limiting individual freedoms - think stop lights, wearing clothes in public, etc. - and require proof of adequate vaccination and compliance with masking and distancing measures to enter ALL public spaces bars, restaurants, sporting events and hair salons, yes, but also banks, grocery stores, schools, and public transportation, with no medical exemptions, real or fabricated. There is no medical exemption for getting a driving licence, after all.

This would lead to two favourable outcomes:

First, most of the Covid atheists would find a useful clarity that many things matter to them more than their avowed principles and then elect to be vaccinated. Second, those who truly stick to their guns and remain unvaccinated will retain their freedom to inhabit their private spheres with their principles intact but without injuring others.

In either case, there will be far fewer Covid foxholes for any of us to find ourselves in and that is an outcome desired by all.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

We welcome all pitches and submissions to TRT World Opinion please send them via email, to opinion.editorial@trtworld.com

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There are no Covid atheists in foxholes - TRT World

Darrin Barr is the former principal of Bloomfield Collegiate in Belfast. He is now with the faith-based organisation Equipping for Life

. Can you tell me about your background?

A. I am 56 and was born in Ballymena. My father was a fireman and my mother was a housewife. I have two sisters and one brother. I have been married to Judy for 34 years and we have four children, three girls and a boy. Our second daughter, Sarah, died of cancer at the age of 13. My secondary education was at Ballymena Academy, then a BSc in chemistry at Queens University Belfast from 1984 to 1987, followed by a PhD in organic chemistry at Queens from 1987 to 1990. This was followed by a PGCE from 1992 to 1993.

Q. What is your employment history?

A. In the early 90s, I worked as a production manager in pharmaceuticals. Then I was a chemistry teacher at Victoria College, Belfast, moving on to become deputy head and acting principal and, for the last nine years of my teaching career, I was principal of Bloomfield Collegiate. I have just finished a two-year contract with AQE and I am now with Equipping for Life, a faith-based organisation, working in disadvantaged areas and equipping people for a better future.

Q. How and when did you come to faith?

A. I was a very enthusiast preacher of atheism at school and even proposed the debating motion, This house believes that God does not exist. At university, my head was turned by a girl who gave me a copy of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. I decided that, to impress her, I would condescend to read the book. However, I was overwhelmed by the person of Jesus. As Lewis says, Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman, or something worse. I accepted that He was the former and I did a 180-degree turn. That was in August 1985 and I have been married to the girl for 34 years and following the Man for 35 years.

Q. Have you ever had a crisis or a gnawing doubt about your faith?

A. Many times, when I wandered away from God. My greatest crisis of faith happened when my daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and subsequently died. It is impossible to articulate the feelings of frustration and pain that parents go through when they have a seriously ill child. I threw myself on Gods mercy and prayed fervently for Sarahs healing and mobilised many Christians locally and nationally to pray. After three years of prayer, Sarah died on St Valentines Day 2007. Looking back, I can see that God really was with me through the pain, but there were times when I struggled with the concept that God is good.

Q. Have you ever been angry with God?

A. When Sarah died, even after so much faithful prayer, I was angry at Him. I was angry at the Church. How could God be described as a good God? I have heard Christians say that God provides car-parking spaces to those who ask and yet He would not grant healing to my daughter. In desperation, I started to read books written by angry or suffering Christians (for example, Where is God When it Hurts by Philip Yancey, A Grief Observed by CS Lewis) and discovered that, if we ever think we understand God, then we have no understanding of Him at all. I started to see that God is not described as good because of what He does for us, rather He is good because of who He is. As Jesus says: In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Q. Are you afraid to die, or can you look beyond death?

A. I do not like pain, so I hope for a relatively good death, but I will have to take what comes. I am not afraid of hellfire for me, but for the ones I love and for all the people who have not experienced and accepted Gods grace through Jesuss death and resurrection.

This might sound odd, but I did not really believe in Heaven until I was forced to contemplate where my daughter was. I believe completely in a New Heaven and a New Earth and that those who trust in Jesus will rise after death to experience a form of life that is unimaginable at the moment. I am so glad that there will be a New Earth, because we are destroying this one.

Q. Why are so many turning their backs on organised religion?

A. The Church has thrived when it has not been at the centre of societies.

When it is marginalised, or suffering persecution, the Church is very often energised, spirit-dependent and effective. Maybe the move away from the centre is Gods plan.

Q. Has religion helped, or hindered, Northern Ireland?

A. Both. There is so much that is good about our values, culture, legal system and social action, which is a direct result of the Churches over the last 1,500 years. The division that we see and the sectarian attitudes which have blighted our country for centuries illustrate the human condition in all its rawness. The Church is full of sinners saved by His grace.

Q. What is your favourite film, book and music?

A. Film any Basil Rathbone version of Sherlock Holmes. Book Mere Christianity by CS Lewis and A Time to Kill by John Grisham. Music The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is heavenly.

Q. Where do you feel closest to God?

A. I love trees, particularly the oak, and when I stare (my wife says open-mouthed) at an oak, I thank God for His love for me.

Q. What inscription would you like on your gravestone?

A. It has already been written, as it is the same grave that my daughter is buried in. My wife and I decided that the phrase that encapsulated Sarahs short life was In Christ alone my hope is found. That will do for me as well.

Q. Finally, have you any major regrets?

A. The only regrets I have are from the times when I have hurt people.

Read more from the original source:
Equipping for Life's Darrin Barr: 'My daughter Sarah was diagnosed with a brain tumour and sadly died... looking back, God was with me through the...

Is there a god?

The discussions in these pages regarding God, religion and atheism bring to mind the following story.

All the wars had been fought and peace finally arrived around the world. All the nations cooperated in building a giant super-computer that would control the weather, the economies, the health systems and all other matters for the entire world.

Came the great day of the inauguration of this fantastic computer and the honour of switching it on fell to the president of the World Federation. He switched it on and asked the first question of this giant machine.

Of course, he asked the question that has troubled mankind since the beginning of time. He asked Is there a god?

The answer came instantly: Now there is!

Terry Bate Gajnsielem

While I emphatically agree with Isabel Stabiles contention (September 24) that there always has to be a man however irresponsible, however much he may lurk in the shadows involved in a pregnancy, I equally emphatically disagree with her conclusion that Maltas anti-abortion laws were laid down as a means of controlling women.

Maltas anti-abortion laws remain in place for one reason alone: to preserve the life of the unborn child and to afford it the dignity it deserves as a complete and living member of the human race.

Claiming that the law was enacted as a means of controlling women is little more than ideological flippancy.

On the other hand, however, it would make great sense were the biological

father to be held at least as responsible for the decision as the mother.

I can see a number of practical difficulties arising along the way but, in principle at least, it would be an overdue, ground-breaking and eminently logical extension to the law as it now stands.

Ivan Padovani San Pawl tat-Tara, Naxxar

When former Yugoslavia was breaking up into the modern republics, warring, enemy soldiers used to break into Catholic convents, rape the nuns and leave with the wish that they bear the child of their enemy.

Indeed, dozens of nuns became pregnant. They wrote to the pope, then St John Paul II, asking: We do not want these babies. What shall we do?

The popes answer was: Abortion is not an option. He arranged for them to continue their pregnancy in convents in Germany, with proper material, psychological and spiritual help.

When the babies were born, the nuns were given the option to bring up the child themselves and leave the convent or offer the child for adoption and return to the convent.

Abortion is a crime. The direct killing of a child is always wrong, no excuse whatsoever. The highest civil authorities in Europe declare that a foetus is a human being.

Anybody who believes in God will accept the commandment: Thou shall not kill. Indeed, nobody would like to be murdered.

The crux of the debate is maturity.

A mature persons attitude to law is that it is his guideline; a childs attitude to law is obedience and subjection.

A girl grows up physically and psychologically and, in her playing with dolls, subconsciously says: I want to be a mother. With abortion she destroys her dream with her own hands, bringing about a great mental breakdown.

Ive been hearing confessions for over half a century, in Malta and, even more, abroad. I am speaking about individuals, women. And also men. They remain haunted for the rest of their lives.

God forgives but nature does not forgive. Jesus forgives, always, but the psyche never.

Dont ask a person who lately had an abortion, not even a few years ago. Abortion is such a heinous crime that a person remains in denial for about nine years.

A woman who wants an abortion feels compelled by various reasons: she is not free. She must be judged with great leniency.

Fr Alfred Vella Clark Msida

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Letters to the editor - October 2, 2021 - Times of Malta