{"id":37363,"date":"2024-04-10T12:25:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T19:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37363"},"modified":"2024-04-10T12:25:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T19:25:47","slug":"to-mask-or-not-to-mask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/to-mask-or-not-to-mask\/","title":{"rendered":"To Mask or Not to Mask"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let me lay my cards on the table to start this conversation. I believe COVID was a real pandemic. I believe most pastors and leaders were making the best choices they could make at the time given regional restrictions and political temperature of their churches. I believe most restrictions were ineffective and draconian. I believe that some masks work and some masks were worthless.[1]<\/a> I found the time surrounding COVID to be almost amusing (note: I was not in a true position of leadership and didn\u2019t have to struggle through it. I simply studied the culture.) I think what made COVID such a confusing time was that long; historical perspectives did not always hold true to their beliefs.<\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s reading, Matthew Petrusek gives a deep dive overview of our cultural political landscape and maps it against the Catholic Church. He makes the argument, “This book will be making the case that the Catholic argument – the big argument on the best understanding of the nature and purpose of politics – holds up very well indeed, especially when examined in relation to secular alternatives.”[2]<\/a> The secular alternatives he pits Catholicism against is, Utilitarianism, Liberalism and Libertarian, Progressivism (i.e., Wokeism) and non-theistic Conservatism. While Petrusek\u2019s argument is historical and theoretical, it often missed the mark in demonstrating how these beliefs worked out in our modern political landscape. Though recently published, he neglected to offer insight regarding COVID. So, I want to think through his perspectives, mapped against some of Tim Harford\u2019s arguments in How to Make the World Add Up <\/em>and look at people\u2019s responses to COVID.<\/p>\n

At the first onset of the pandemic, COVID was all about the science. There was a utilitarian perspective to it. What do the numbers say? What did we know from science? We were initially told the nation was going to shut down for two-weeks to \u201cflatten the curve.\u201d The restrictions remained in place well beyond the two-weeks. Yet, even when flattening the curve proved to not have worked as hope there was still a segment of our community that took Hume\u2019s perspective that, “Only scientific knowledge is valid knowledge. Everything else is, at best, fodder for a book hungry blaze.”[3]<\/a> However, the science was shifting. The science became hard for many people to rely on.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, many in society took Harford\u2019s perspective that we shouldn\u2019t take statistics for granted. Harford argues Trump simply made-up numbers in his administration and tried to get others to believe them.[4]<\/a> Trump, quickly shifted his tune and began to see the political divide. Suddenly, masking became tribal. Regarding COVID, Harford writes, \u201cParadoxically, it can be much easier to spot tribalism when you are standing off to one side\u2026 It\u2019s easier when you belong to the tribe of bemused outsiders.\u201d[5]<\/a> Since I had just returned to the United States after living overseas, I found myself a bemused outsider, critiquing the tribes on both sides.<\/p>\n

The Liberal perspective has typically taken the approach of, “You do you, I’ll do me.”[6]<\/a> Yet, in the face of a public health threat, this approach was no longer valid since the pandemic crossed all boundaries. Instead, the approach was more of a form of Woke Utilitarianism. Here is what I mean by this. The Progressive or Woke ideology stresses, “If a member of a favored identity group says something is true, it must be true no matter what the facts are.”[7]<\/a> In the case of COVID, the favored identity by the Woke group were those who always donned masks. These were not simply the people following the laws, these were the people hiking in the middle of the woods still wearing cloth masks. It was a tribal identity, not a scientifically backed rationale. This Woke perspective heavily relied upon the scientific perspectives of Utilitarianism. Even when the science was not always there, the focus was still on tribal identity.<\/p>\n

This Woke Utilitarian perspective was what allowed our nation to shut our eyes and close our ears to the older generation who reside in nursing homes or who were hospitalized. Many people, suffering from COVID or other illnesses, were simply written off as no longer useful for society. Many of those individuals who were on the wrong side of the Woke tribal identity were also deemed to be the last recipients of the medical equipment based on the fact that they didn\u2019t wear a useless cloth mask. What the different political perspectives had in common was that many of the decisions made were made in fear. Rationale and science-based data was surpassed by a deep fear in many people.<\/p>\n

I might continue to look at how perspectives shifted over the course of the pandemic, or how it was regionally different. However, I do not have space to cover three years of political discourse. I do want to end with a Christ focused perspective though (Certainly not the only Christ-centered perspective.) A Christ-centered approach recognizes that all humans are created in the image of God and everyone has inherent value. A Christ-centered approach remembers that we are kingdom ambassadors, not a part of local tribes. A Christ-centered approach does not dismiss the science but recognizes that the science can be valuable even though it is not the ultimate truth. Our theology should help discern the science and tribalism. A Christ-centered approach should be deeply disturbed that many patients were left alone in hospitals with no one by their side as the passed away. We recognize God\u2019s sovereignty over both the individual\u2019s souls as well as the pandemic. A Christ-centered approach is willing to don a mask and follow the governmental laws but chooses to live a life without fear. A Christ-centered approach recognizes mankind\u2019s temporal status and vulnerability and Christ\u2019s eternal perspective and superiority. May we never have to go through such a pandemic as a society again.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Mayo Clinic, based in my city, banned all non-medical masks on their campuses within weeks of the pandemic. They determined and knew cloth masks were completely ineffective. Yet, cloth mask mandates remained public policy way beyond the medical knowledge.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Matthew Petrusek, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/em> (Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire, 2023), 13.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Petrusek, 160.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Tim Harford, How to Make the World Add up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently about Numbers<\/em> (London: The Bridge Street Press, 2021), 203.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Harford, 9.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Petrusek, 212.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Petrusek, 331.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me lay my cards on the table to start this conversation. I believe COVID was a real pandemic. I believe most pastors and leaders were making the best choices they could make at the time given regional restrictions and political temperature of their churches. I believe most restrictions were ineffective and draconian. I believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2997,2967],"class_list":["post-37363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-petrusek","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37366,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37363\/revisions\/37366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}