To be free or not to be free, that is not the question
So freedom has become a big fat hairy issue in these Covid-19 times. In America, we do not want the government to tell us what to to, we spend a lot of our time stressing over the government telling us what to do, and if you had to come up with a clever phrase to capture this quasi-religious (maybe not even quasi-) passionately held belief system, you know, like, Jesus died for your sins, or There is No God but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet, or Next Year in Jerusalem, or Hopp Schwiiz (you're just never going to guess that one), it would be "Nobody gets to tell ME what to do!"
Right now these days, nobody gets to tell us to wear a mask, or stay inside, or close our businesses, or not to drive anywhere but essential places (which include food, beer, and pot). I heard a woman from Florida in a city council meeting say that masks were denying God's creation of breathing and were therefore heretical, and another woman at the same meeting say that people were dying because of wearing masks. Somehow, being asked to wear a mask is government overreach, and we are not having any of it.
We didn't want to use seatbelts, wear helmets when riding motorcycles, buy fuel-efficient cars, get energy-saving lightbulbs, recycle, stop throwing trash on the roads out of our car windows, stop smoking, stop binge drinking, stop polluting the air and water, or have speed or red-light cameras. All the regulatory laws we have emerged out of need, but some of us spend a lot of time and energy trying to undo things like food regulations, water- and -air-quality regulations, car safety regulations and on and on. We are offended before God and man if we have to deal with a regulation or two.
So do not tell us to wear a mask. Christianity Today had an article about young white evangelicals refusing to wear masks. See, it's religious. It is part of our American Christian faith.
But people are dying, in part at least because of other people's refusal to wear masks. So if you were God, how do you punish them?
At least with regard to masks, it's pretty obvious. Don't wear a mask, then die.
But it doesn't seem to work that way. The young, healthy and vigorous refuse to wear masks, and the old and immuno-compromised die. The young, white healthy evangelicals refuse to wear masks, and old black diabetics get to shuffle off this mortal coil.
So clearly God has another plan.
Right now these days, nobody gets to tell us to wear a mask, or stay inside, or close our businesses, or not to drive anywhere but essential places (which include food, beer, and pot). I heard a woman from Florida in a city council meeting say that masks were denying God's creation of breathing and were therefore heretical, and another woman at the same meeting say that people were dying because of wearing masks. Somehow, being asked to wear a mask is government overreach, and we are not having any of it.
We didn't want to use seatbelts, wear helmets when riding motorcycles, buy fuel-efficient cars, get energy-saving lightbulbs, recycle, stop throwing trash on the roads out of our car windows, stop smoking, stop binge drinking, stop polluting the air and water, or have speed or red-light cameras. All the regulatory laws we have emerged out of need, but some of us spend a lot of time and energy trying to undo things like food regulations, water- and -air-quality regulations, car safety regulations and on and on. We are offended before God and man if we have to deal with a regulation or two.
So do not tell us to wear a mask. Christianity Today had an article about young white evangelicals refusing to wear masks. See, it's religious. It is part of our American Christian faith.
But people are dying, in part at least because of other people's refusal to wear masks. So if you were God, how do you punish them?
At least with regard to masks, it's pretty obvious. Don't wear a mask, then die.
But it doesn't seem to work that way. The young, healthy and vigorous refuse to wear masks, and the old and immuno-compromised die. The young, white healthy evangelicals refuse to wear masks, and old black diabetics get to shuffle off this mortal coil.
So clearly God has another plan.
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