Monday, April 26, 2021

Salvation through vaccination

Or Franciscan University blasphemes the gospel of STEM.  At least supposedly. At least Franciscan University - a much loathed and hated university among the always enlightened and tolerant Catholic Left and former conservatives - declined to have the university host a vaccine site.  

We know this is bad because since then, dozens of positive Covid cases have occurred.  This wouldn't have happened if they had offered the vaccine site.  We know that because more and more people than ever have been vaccinated while Covid rates have been on the rise.  That, however, is due to variants in the Covid virus, which seem either to be addressed by the vaccines or not addressed.  In any event, we know the vaccines are doing their job because rates were alternately rising and shrinking before the vaccines, unlike now when they have been steadily rising. 

Which is why everyone should be vaccinated, so we can get back to almost normal.  Though we may still need to social distance, avoid non-BLM mass gatherings, and perhaps continue to wear face masks.  This being because not everyone has been vaccinated, or perhaps we may still need to anyway.  

Nonetheless, vaccines obviously work and they are completely safe.  There were a couple cases of blood clots in women that may be linked to the vaccines but those are the only problems.  Oddly enough, in our family we personally know three individuals who had severe reactions not connected to having received the vaccines, including one elderly woman who had to be rushed to the emergency room, again in no way connected to the vaccination she received. So it's appalling that Franciscan University hates Science.  

For our part, we haven't been vaccinated.  That's because we're frothing at the mouth, anti-Science, anti-Vaccers.  Or, it's because after we watched the elderly lady rushed to the ER - the mother in law of a doctor who went to our former church no less - we reasoned my own Mom, at the tender age of 90 and, while healthy, not up to fending off what that woman went through, might not fare so well. 

In addition, owing to his white privilege, my oldest son still lives with us while going through college,.  He can't have the vaccinations because at least one of the vaccines could kill him, since he developed a fatal seafood allergy not related to the flu vaccine he received weeks before developing the allergy out of the blue.  While we only know of one Covid vaccine brand for sure that could kill him, we're not sold on the idea that other vaccines addressing the same problem could be any safer.

Since that's two who live with us who don't feel comfortable getting the vaccine for the sake of their health, we've concluded that, as of now, the rest of us getting the vaccine won't help, unless we throw the other two out on the street or lock them in the attic.  

True, we could just get them anyway, since except for six women with blood clots, not a single serious reaction has been documented.  But again, we're till waiting to see.  Dr. Pope Francis has said we should, and I know that carries more weight than Franciscan University.  After all, as Bill Nye has shown us all, to have any degree or classes in any science discipline is to be an expert in them all. 

Nonetheless, despite it all, we're still waiting and seeing.  Why Franciscan University did what it did I don't know, but I'm sure the reasons were most evil.  That's because anyone who questions the vaccines or fails to conform 100% to the latest demands of the Experts can only be both stupid and the most reprehensibly evil.  And that, kids, is what's called smart thinking in the 21st Century. 

4 comments:

  1. On a related note, I didn't get the vaccine for the simple reason that I'm too busy to take time out of my day to get a shot that may or may not actually do anything.

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    1. Yep. If we knew more about it we might be willing to try, those of us who can, despite the restrictions our family has. But we still don't know.

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  2. Note that secular replacements for religion are lacking in any sense of atonement or salvation. A Catholic can be forgiven by a priest, and know that he is in fact forgiven and the weight of his sins has been removed from him. But no matter how many times you confess your "whiteness" or "unconscious racism" you're still as guilty as before you said anything.

    Similarly people who treat the vaccine religiously don't even gain any confidence from it. It might not be 100% effective, or there might be variants, or maybe it won't protect you from passing it to or from people who are unvaccinated and people might be lying about getting vaccinated. So while they will proudly announce their religious adherence by getting the vaccination, afterwards they will still mask up and cower at home in fear of the virus.

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    1. That's a good point. In seminary, I wrote a paper on that observation regarding the idea of 'Corporate sin'. My professor, David Gushee, admitted it was a problem, that corporate guilt seems to have no avenue to corporate grace. Likewise, emphasizing it over and over ccan leave people with the idea that there is no hope of redemption for sins they have no ultimate control over. And yes, the vaccine seems to be in that category. Get the vaccine, it's what we can do, even if we're not sure what happens next.

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