Covid 19 - Atheists Vs. Christians.

Just this morning, I made sure that I shoved a facemask into my pocket before leaving the house to buy the morning newspaper at a local superstore. However, as I was concentrating on where I wanted to go, I totally forgot about the mask after entering the store to pick up the paper from the stall. Just then, whilst I was still at the newspaper stall, a pretty young female approached, dressed in staff uniform, and with an equally sweet tone of voice, asked me whether I would like to borrow a mask.

Borrow a mask? No way would I hand it back to her with germs, saliva droplets, and all other impurities caught in the fabric! Instead, I apologised and whipped out my own nappy and covered my face with it. And yes, this was a genuine incident of forgetfulness and not a deliberate evasion of responsibility - despite my rising resentment at what appears to be a permanent necessity.

And so, the newspaper I had just bought carries the front-page headline: SUMMER FREEDOM ON HOLD TILL JULY.*  Indeed, I was disappointed but not surprised. I saw this coming. And the feeling of unease persists, and from time to time, bouts of anger and frustration as the question circulates around my head: When news of this new variant became apparent, why on earth didn't our government immediately impose a shut-down of all airline routes to and from India?

Indeed, this looks to be a repeat of the mistake made more than a year earlier, when British skiers flew to Northern Italy when that particular region had a high infection rate. But at least, back then, they hardly knew any better. Now we do. News of a high death rate and a broken health service across the subcontinent kept flooding our TV screens. And these footages included ghastly images of bodies cremated in public car parks, as the death rate was terrifyingly high. Yet some faceless bureaucrat in the Civil Service had advised our Government to keep the airline route open - whilst our PM had to cancel his visit to India's Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, originally to set up a post-Brexit trade deal with that country.

Life in India - Source of the Delta Covid virus.

Maybe, our PM's intention is to keep on good terms with our Commonwealth member. After all, if a post-Brexit deal is so desired by us, dare we fall into India's bad books? Then, be sure to keep the airline routes open. Never mind the virus. We are the winners! Britain was once regarded as God's Country and rightfully ruled the waves. Therefore we remain immune to any foreign variant. So we thought...

And so, a threat hangs over our holiday prospect like a heavy thundercloud. This 6-day break is what we now call a staycation - one of those newfangled words whose proper meaning is controversial. It could mean a holiday at home, without actually going anywhere. Or, as we interpret the word to mean staying at any destination within the UK as opposed to holidaying abroad. Whichever it may be, our destination this time will be at Llandudno in North Wales.

I recall, with a level of amusement, one churchgoer who would have insisted that we will be going abroad - since Wales is not England. Never mind about that. My main concern is that the English/Welsh border may close again if the rise in this viral infection results in another national lockdown.

But I also need to ask: Is this whole scenario purely the fault of our government and its civil servants? Or was it inevitable that this Indian variant of the virus - now renamed Delta - had already found its way into the UK some weeks earlier by hitching a lift from an unsuspecting carrier? But what had annoyed me was that once discovered, a four-day "grace period" was set by our ministers to allow for all returning from India to enter the UK without the need to quarantine. And so, they poured back into the UK - only God knows how many of them were asymptomatic carriers of this Delta virus as they passed through Heathrow Airport.

As I often remind others at our weekday morning Zoom prayer meetings, I give thanks to God for the magnificent national vaccine rollout achieved in such a short time. And talking of vaccines and lockdowns, one academic, Prof Philip Thomas of Bristol University, wrote an article for The Daily Mail Online. Titled: Why we CAN be free on June 21, he argued - by using mathematical formulae - that because of the high percentage of inoculations, the rise of the infection rate in the weeks to come, including the possibility of a third wave, should have little effect on the rise of hospital admissions or the death rate. This is due to the present observations that the sudden rise of infections is confined mainly among the unvaccinated, that is, among the younger people who tend to recover from the infection more rapidly either without the need or with the minimum of hospital admissions.

Further checking has shown that this article had been deleted entirely from the main newspaper website, but can still be found on Mail+ which is linked directly to my Facebook profile (at least at this moment.) To have deleted the article was a great pity. The long comment forum trailing Thomas' contribution contained mostly positive feedback, with the majority praising him for his mathematical expertise and common sense.

Therefore, according to Thomas' excellent article, anti-vaxxers can still fall prone to the disease. And that is a great shame. And I find this quite embarrassing to my Christian faith. There are atheists who, with a much higher level of education and common sense combined, can argue against the so-called "Christian stance" with remarkable ease. And these atheists don't hesitate either.

Freedom Day - Much longed for.

One comes to mind - YouTuber Scimandan, whose latest video supporting inoculations has collected more than 75,000 views in just four days after posting. He submits at least two arguments in his support for the vaccines. These two arguments are a direct rebuke for the opinions held by some churchgoers.

One argument he puts forward is a rebuke against the bizarre idea that the vaccine contains a nanometre-sized electronic device that is injected into the bloodstream and therefore, the recipient will forever be monitored by Central Intelligence. True enough, such nanometre computers do exist. But Scimandan refutes the idea that a jab guarantees that the device will be injected. This because each vial contains four doses, and it would be impossible to guarantee that each dose would contain a monitor in each. Besides, we are constantly monitored already. The device used for this is much, much bigger. He then showed us his smartphone.

The idea of a nanometre-sized device in the bloodstream is taken from the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, chapter 13. Here, the writer sees a vision of the future Antichrist ordering that no one can buy or sell unless he has a mark implanted either on his forehead or on his right hand. Often known as "The Mark of the Beast" - churchgoers use this as a reason for not taking the vaccine - despite that it has no relation to the vaccine! No vaccine leaves a mark on his forehead or right hand. Furthermore, my PhD friend Andrew wrote that those who accept the Mark not only will know what they are doing, but they will go for the Mark with deliberate intention - that is to willingly rebel against God in fist-shaking defiance.

The other reason Scimandan gives on why churchgoers refuse the vaccine is to do with aborted fetuses. I know a Christian couple who refuse to take the vaccine because, according to them, it was made from aborted fetuses. That is untrue, according to the atheist. Rather, in the making of the vaccine, parts taken from the lines of fetuses aborted in the 1970s were used in the development of the vaccine, but not as an ingredient for the vaccine itself. And this was not the first time that I heard this. I have read it from sources elsewhere already.

When I rebuked the husband for his skewered stance, he unfriended me from Facebook and even blocked me, so I cannot contact him in any way. A very sad reaction, in my opinion. But if he was right in standing by his opinion, then lockdowns would remain perpetual, never-ending, as no one who is against abortions, along with all churchgoers, would accept the vaccine. Again, according to my PhD friend, if these churchgoers have their way, the pandemic will never be defeated.

These, I feel, are times of distress. I both watch on television and read in newspapers about the sudden and rather threatening rise of the Delta variant of Covid 19. If unchecked, this could lead to another national lockdown, a move which the likes of Prof Philip Thomas would deem unwise, as this is just kicking the tin can down the road. By autumn, according to the professor, the rate of infection will rise again to coincide with the winter flu season.

But there is hope - a hope which I perceive as a mercy from God - the rapid development of vaccines designed to inoculate against the virus. Some good news: According to one source, around 50% of all determined anti-vaxxers have changed their minds and went on to receive their jabs. If only the other half would follow suit.**

When I feel sad, depressed, fearful, worrisome, then I have learned by experience that three spiritual actions I can take which I have found to be helpful. One is reading the Bible. This I do every morning before getting up. Another is prayer. I can pray in the comfort of my own home, alone and in quietness. Also, my church in Ascot is holding weekday prayer meetings on Zoom for twenty minutes in the morning. I find these virtual meetings very encouraging and beneficial, especially if this is the only way to remain in contact with those I love in Christ.

The reading of the Bible takes three "ingredients" for full effectiveness. The first is reading (the action itself) the second is the intellect or knowledge gained, and thirdly, with faith. Some atheists read the Bible and gain much knowledge, but without faith, the unbelieving reader or student will only pick holes, scorn and laugh at the Scriptures in mockery - especially over the early chapters of Genesis - and then dismiss it all in the name of Science.

At present, I'm reading through the three major prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. For those not familiar with the Bible, these are found in the Prophecy section of the Old Testament. However, for the beginner, it's good to read the New Testament, especially the Gospel of John. For Old Testament reading, Genesis is a good book to start with. Appropriately, Genesis is the first book of the entire Bible. But it should be read with faith. Thus, by reading the writings of these three prophets, I came to a quick realisation that God is sovereign and really, the virus is little to be afraid of. 

Professor Philip Thomas.

The third spiritual action may or may not follow the reading of the Bible. That is meditating. One can interpret that as being in deep thought, but I find that going out for a walk and talking to myself whilst out and about prove also to be beneficial. I understand that such walks may not be convenient if one has a busy work schedule. Nevertheless, as a retiree, I have found ways to solve various problems, especially from a Biblical perspective when I talk quietly to myself. Even when I was at work cleaning windows, there were times I was able to meditate. Through means of this, one morning of October 1992, I felt inspired to fly out to Israel to pray over the city of Jerusalem the following year.

And so, I shouldn't feel so threatened over the potential loss of our vacation due to the rise of the Delta infection rate. Getting to know God through the reading of the Scriptures puts everything in the right perspective. We may lose the holiday, but we won't be losing our lives, neither would we suffer any separation from our marriage. 

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*The Daily Mail Newspaper, Saturday, June 12th, 2021.

**Ibid.