Sad. We have seen too many die who did not have to do so.
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Indiana provides a pretty good picture of what happens when kids return to school without mask mandates.
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“As ye sow, so shall ye reap” comes to mind. Your principal and school board are playing dice with your children’s welfare.
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Hi, thanks for your article. I understand it takes courage to put yourself out there in a controversy and I appreciate your willingness to do that. While I think that the efficacy of masks in closed quarters such as a classroom, and the level of vulnerability of children to this disease is much more in question than you would agree to my real concern about your article is that the conclusion doesn’t follow from your argument. Saying that you want to encourage Christians to “love your neighbor, wear your own mask”, is a far cry from “Love your neighbor, so we will use government to force EVERYONE to wear a mask, get the vaccine, etc.” Mask mandates, lockdowns and other extreme measures taken in this pandemic have had some scientific and medical basis, but public policies and utilizing the awesome power of government to force action, needs to be carefully considered in the context of costs and benefits, rights and responsibilities for a society as a whole. Too often government has leapt into action with no consideration for the ultimate cost and impact of the use of government authority to force compliance. In fact, it’s pretty clear that the costs of much of government action during this last year are coming at a far higher individual and social costs than are conceivable.
I think the point is to appeal to people’s better nature to do the right thing for the best reasons. What the government does if the situation continues to worsen does not reflect any choice by your fellow Christians who are asking this of you. Most mandates are not enforceable. Otherwise I personally would be for them.
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Welcome! I’m really confused about this freedom argument. If we were Israelites in the times of Moses, would we argue against God’s law to quarantine on the basis of freedom?
This is not a new thing, and it’s not only scientifically sound, but more recent folks like George Washington (with smallpox) and others enforced it.
700,000 people dead–nearly twice that of all US citizens in 4 years of WWII–argues that Drs Fauci, Collins and the WHO were likely right to try to stem a tide that would have been much greater. You might want to watch the Disney Plus documentary on Dr Fauci–one always worries about doing too little. Only time will tell what the right thing was to do, but it seems that those who did it, meant well and had much more insight than those who opposed it. As a primary care physician, the things that keep me up at night are usually “did I do enough” to keep people from getting sick, too.
I look forward to more discussion.
Thanks.
Addendum: I am so sorry–I appreciate your clarification. I completely misunderstood your position–see my response below. I fully support and agree with where you are coming from–that we argue secularly, not from the Bible. Thanks.
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Thanks. Let’s think about what a “mandate” is. It’s using the power of government to force someone who does not agree with you to take an action that they do not wish to take. It’s using the power of government to take away their rights to work, to travel, to purchase goods and attend school, live functional lives unless they comply. So, I think we need to be very careful about using our Christian principals to advocate forcing other people to do things that they disagree with,
Following God’s laws, and the direction from Jesus about following civil law, are separate topics. My question is, would we not be better served, in fact would we not better serve God as followers of Jesus, instead of advocating that government force others to wear masks and take vaccines and punish those who do not, to use the power of our God given intellect to persuade people of their safety and efficacy? Kathryne Applegate who wrote this article is obviously smart, well versed in the topic and persuasive. Explaining to others why masks and vaccines are effective, and safe, and answering concerns and questions is very powerful and a process completely in line with Christ’s own way of teaching others. Should I cite examples, there are many…
On the other hand, look at the effect that these “mandates” have had, and continue to have. We are being divided as a nation. Rhetoric about this being a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” blaming one group of our society (a process of scapegoating so old the linguistic roots are in the old testament) with one group lined up ready to punish and the other group lined up feeling oppressed and rebellious. I am sure we all play a part in that divisiveness, but I certainly don’t believe this is what Jesus intended for his followers.
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Isn’t equating a mask requirement from a private Christian school with a government mandate a bit overblown? Even a public school board. School boards (public and private) make all kinds of rules all the time, and they aren’t equated to government mandates. We need to keep some perspective here.
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“Love your neighbor, so we will use government to force EVERYONE to give up the liberty of driving on the left side of the road and drive obligatorily on the right side of the road.”
“Love your neighbor, so we will use government to force EVERY CHILD ENROLLED IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL to obtain vaccinations that protect our kids from the spread of deadly diseases like measles, mumps, and pertussis.”
“Love your neighbor, so we will use government to force EVERYONE WHO FLIES to have their baggage scanned prior to boarding an airplane.”
I could cite 10,000 more examples if I had the time, but I think you must get the point by now.
There is not a single thing that makes mask-wearing or vaccinations fundamentally different from any of the other government-mandated safety measures that we all comply with in order to love our neighbors.
In the case of coronavirus policies, there is a media industry that uses fear and loathing to drive people to anger and further media consumption, which in turn drives more advertising profits for said media. This happens across the political spectrum and across political issues; on issues besides COVID, it’s sometimes MSNBC instead of Fox. Joseph Kennedy, Jr., for example has been spreading a lot of anti-vax nonsense among liberal followers.
But the fact that media voices are swirling should have no moral standing in a discussion of the moral obligations between governments and citizens, in my opinion.
I certainly urge my friends and family to drive safely. But at the same time, I do want the state troopers to issue traffic tickets to those who endanger me, my family, and my fellow citizens through their reckless behavior.
To be clear, I am not advocating arrests for non-compliance.
My $.02,
Chris
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Hi Kendel, I appreciate your comment, the problem is the article mentioned vaccines and other actions. Again, if you want to argue that wearing a mask is a good precaution, great! If you want to argue that mask mandates, vaccine mandates, lockdowns, etc. are good public policy, well okay we can discuss those on the merits, many people disagree. However, arguing that Jesus’s instructions in Mark to love your neighbor somehow means we as Christians are commanded ask government to adopt these measures is just not true and not scriptural in any sense of the word. On another note, as far as perspective goes, we are clearly on a very slippery slope. As we speak 10s of thousands of people have lost their jobs, and 100s of thousands more are about to, due to vaccine mandates. I think loving our neighbor might mean thinking through why many of these people are either more afraid of the vaccine, or feel in good conscience that they cannot accept the vaccine, Jesus set a miraculous example for us to have empathy and understanding. Perhaps that would be a better step for us as Christians than reaching for the cudgel of government enforcement.
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Hi Chris, thanks for your comments. As I replied to Kendel above, if you want to argue that mask mandates, vaccine mandates, lockdowns, etc. are good public policy, fine, we can discuss those on the merits as a policy. Many people disagree and have serious concerns, both medically and morally, and I think this is one thing that differs between the examples you cite such as driving on the left side of the road etc… However, arguing that Jesus’s instructions in Mark to love your neighbor somehow means we as Christians are commanded ask government to adopt these measures is just not true and not scriptural in any sense of the word.
I do agree with your comments regarding the media (and social media) milieu. It’s not just anti-vax nonsense and conspiracy theories, of which there’s no shortage. We are now in a situation where we’ve polarized vaccinated and unvaccinated and demonized and scapegoated the large percentage of American’s who have so far chosen not to be vaccinated. Clear information, openly expressing and addressing concerns, creating reasonable exceptions to policy, are all a far more effective way of addressing these kind of hesitancies, but it seems that we’ve lost the habit of these approaches. Of all the tools in our tool kits why are we only reaching for the hammer?
Michael, I agree with you there. Although you could argue that mandates are pretty much universally not based on religious grounds, but rather on public health concerns. Jesus stayed out of Rome’s business remarkably well, an example the church often has not followed. However, those topics are legitimate questions for us to ask of ourselves as a local church community.
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Hello Michael,
You have mistake my meaning entirely. I didn’t mention a view on mask mandates:
I rather, pointed out that it is normal for school boards to make rules about all sorts of things. Although school boards are tiny elected boards with extremely limited power, they seem to have become equated with “Big Government” in the minds of many people. Living with a school board member, I recognize how miniscule their power is. There is no slippery slope here. These people barely have power within their own sphere, much less outside of it.
Please, don’t take my word for it. Go start talking to school board members in your area.
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I disagree, but I respect your right to disagree with me. 
Seriously, you think the one and only thing that the CDC has done is recommend mask mandates? The CDC has been issuing guidance on the benefits of mask wearing and vaccines since the beginning of the pandemic.
If there had not been a vociferous opposition to all things CDC and epidemiology, driven by identity politics among ~35% of the population which is (due to identity politics) not inclined to reasoned discussion, there would be no debate over mask mandates today because they would not have been needed.
A couple of my near relatives have rejected vaccines in favor of ivermectin, and they are completely closed to any data and studies I offer them to the contrary. As far as I can tell, those near relatives are typical of the 35% I referred to in the previous paragraph.
Respectfully,
Chris
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Thanks for being kind.
Before going on, may I ask if you follow CDC guidelines in wearing masks in crowds, and have you been vaccinated? That helps in that I know where you are coming from. If you do not agree with and follow the arguments, then I think we will discuss past each other.
We have very good arguments in the public–CDC, NIH, MMWR, multiple radio ads all over the place. No one really has trouble understanding the basic ones. However, at some point, out of humility, we have to admit that epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists really do know more than we do. It’s not considered democratic, but it’s true. I’m a family doc, who has had a fair amount of formal virology and epidemiology courses–but at some point, I have to humbly acknowledge that Drs Collins and Fauci know the big picture better than I.
Despite a very good campaign to explain this, how many people that have heard the information follow it? In my wonderful church of 200, only one other than my family wears a mask. It is not from a lack of understanding. The really ironic thing is listening to requests for prayer for those who are hospitalized with Covid, when no one in the building is wearing a mask, and few are vaccinated.
The mask mandate (if it were implemented I don’t know where it is currently, if at all) is scarcely out of proportion. To compare, the government mandates seat belts. They save 14,000 lives/year. Seat Belts Save Lives | NHTSA. When the government mandated seatbelts, many felt it was being heavy handed.When New Seat Belt Laws Drew Fire as a Violation of Personal Freedom | HISTORY However, no one questions the law now.
In contrast, in just a few months of the past year, we could have saved up to 130,000 lives if 95% of people used masks as recommended by the CDC. Face Coverings Could Save 130,000 American Lives from COVID-19 by March – NIH Director’s Blog
Masks are frustrating, but not onerous. No one suffers from masks, any more than from seatbelts. Those that can’t use seatbelts can get authorizations for exceptions–I have written for them.
Imagine being an epidemiologist who knows that mandating seat belts has saved 14,000 to 15,000 lives per year, and realizing that if one does not take action, hundreds of thousands of lives might be lost. I would feel awful.
In my area, Covid is increasing very quickly. I can’t talk about practice details, but I have lost quite a few patients and acquaintances to Covid.
I am sorry, but I can’t agree with those who blame the government and scientists for mandating masks (not that that’s being currently mandated in most places).
It seems like many are resisting the scientists just because they are mandated–just as some would drape the seatbelt over their chests to avoid getting a ticket, without actually clicking the belts into place. Such stubbornness stuns me. It seems to reflect a resistance to following rules, no matter the reason. Why people object to laws that save lives - BBC Future
Thanks.
Addendum: I am so sorry–I appreciate your clarification. I completely misunderstood your position–see my response below. I fully support and agree with where you are coming from–that we argue secularly, not from the Bible. Thanks.
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Hi Randy, Not supporting a mask mandate is not the same thing as not supporting wearing masks, just as not supporting a vaccine mandate is not the same thing as not believing in vaccines. My own vaccine status is completely irrelevant to my basic challenge to the original author of this article and subsequent posts, which is to say Jesus’ commandment to “Love your neighbor” equates to advocating for authoritarian measures such as mandates, is a complete logical fallacy. It doesn’t hold water in the most basic sense. It may be good policy, it might be supportable, many Christians may agree it’s a great idea, but it is absolutely not Biblical.
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Thank you for your response. I am truly sorry if what I said wasn’t tactful.
There are some things we can agree on, I think. For example, I grew up in a Muslim majority area; it reinforced to me how important it is to argue mandates from a universal, not a sectarian, point of view. If someone mandates something, we should present it from logic, not from faith alone (I think, however, that we can do good things for others out of our devotion to God; and that studying the issue seriously and trying to protect the vulnerable is a good application of mandate here).
Also, I would want to avoid Moses’ sin. In Numbers 20, he became angry with the people and lost his humility, striking the rock to give them water and putting himself on level with God–'What must we do" to prove that God was faithful. God forbid that I should act that way. After all, he was kept out of the promised land.
To explain better–it seems to me that there was a good, secular reason for mandating seat belts (saving 15,000 lives/year). There has not been a consistent mandate in terms of vaccine and masks, but to save a million or so lives (if the death rate is a lower estimate of 0.5%, and nearly everyone gets Covid eventually–which seems likely with the Delta variant–then one estimate is that not just the 130,000 lives, but an additional, nearly 1,000,000 lives are at stake) seems well worth it.
I’m not arguing a consistent mandate for the vaccine in all people, but just discussing the potential benefit. Certainly, in my medical institution, I do support mandating vaccines and masks for all those who take care of the immunocompromised (which is pretty much everyone).
I am sorry if I came across wrong, but what I meant was that if we can agree on the facts, especially on whether to trust the scientists, then the argument makes more sense.
Does that help? I appreciate your discussion, and look forward to your response.
I have wonderful family members who are Covid skeptics. It does not mean that they are not terrific people. I am grateful for their influence on my kids’ lives, for example.
I am sure that you are also equally honorable.
Thank you.
Addendum: I am so sorry–I appreciate your clarification. I completely misunderstood your position–see my response below. I fully support and agree with where you are coming from–that we argue secularly, not from the Bible. Thanks.
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I don’t see how that follows. Do you disapprove of reckless driving laws and speed limits in school zones or residential areas? They fit the definition of authoritarian mandates, I should think, and could be labeled ‘laws of love’, caring about the well-being of the populace.
Those traffic laws – and vaccine mandates – help us obey another ‘authoritarian measure’, “Thou shalt not kill”, as @Randy pointed out about the mortality statistics of the vaccinated vs the unvaccinated:
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