Where is the love?–Faith and public health collide near Steinbach

Epidemics/Pandemics, Human rights, religion

 

 

Steinbach was in the news again. Religion did it again. Last week, the police confronted more than a 100 vehicles at the Church of God Restoration south of Steinbach yesterday. The members of the church had been warned that if they tried again to flout Manitoba’s Health orders against religious gathering they would be ticketed. So the police warned them not to gather or they would be ticketed. The RCMP went one step farther and blocked off the driveway from the adjacent highway after the maximum 5 vehicles drove onto the parking lot of the church. Earlier, the same church was fined $5,000 and their pastor $1,296. It was the pastor’s second such fine. Under current Manitoba public health orders all faith-based services must be conducted virtually. The church is certainly taking what they perceive to be their rights seriously.

One of the congregants made an interesting argument:

“You can go back into Winnipeg and go to Walmart, and there’ll be 800 cars in the parking lot, just like there is in Costco, but we can’t go in this parking lot because it’s deadly? What if I put a Wal-Mart sign on that building, would that make it better?” Dube said.

Yet, are they really analogous? At Wal-Mart is there a danger that people will socialize as they wait in line to get their groceries?

The Minster of the church, Tobias Tissen, was not backing down. He said he was going to continue to have Sunday church services. This is what he said:

“Really, these police officers that are here blocking our entrance, they’re not blocking us, they are blocking God … by laying fines upon us, handing out tickets — mister officers, do you realize you are doing that to God?” he said.

Can anyone block God? Is that possible? According to Manitoba’s top public health official Dr. Brent Roussin who is charged with the responsibility of making these public health orders,  “faith-based gatherings had been identified as proven resources of Covid-19 transmission.” As well as saying that, Dr. Roussin added this by way of justification:

“We know that from the literature, from our own experience, that prolonged, indoor gathering such as faith-based gatherings are high risk for super-spreading events.’

Dr.) Roussin why we can’t be here?” Allard, one of those in attendance asked.

The province’s top doctor reiterated on Friday that faith-based gatherings have been identified as proven sources of COVID-19 transmission:

“We know that from the literature, from our own experience, that prolonged, indoor gathering such as faith-based gatherings are high risk for super-spreading events.”

Another visitor who asked not to be identified and who it seems was not a member of the church at all, made perhaps the most interesting argument of all when he said,

“The gym provides essential services for me. It helps me to boost my immune system. The church provides essential services for those who believe in God — it’s essential to them … some would say it’s more important to them than food and water.”

This argument is analogous to those who argue that schools should be kept open even though they do pose a health risk, because schools are essential for the health of young people. Is it not reasonable to suggest that for some people religious services including a communal or even social aspect, are essential to maintaining mental health?

One of the attendants took the actions of the province as a challenge saying,

“I hope they try to make an example out of me. I hope the Crown attorney keeps this ticket alive. Don’t drop the ticket, come at me — we’re going to set a precedent.”

One thing that disturbs me about all these arguments made by self-proclaimed Christians. What about love thy neighbour as thyself?  I always thought that was the most important part of religion. I did not see any concern for others among these conservative Christians. That makes me distrust their assertion that their claim is based on religion.

Where is the love?

Beauty like a bended bow

autumn

 

As W. B. Yeats put it, “Beauty like a bended bow.” In the poem as I recall it, he was referring to Helen of Troy whose face launched a thousand ships. Men sent to battle to get her back or keep her captive. That is what autumn is to me. It is a dangerous beauty.

Like us, autumn won’t last long. If only we can make a spectacular exit as autumn does each year.

The birches and aspen were gorgeous, particularly set off against a beautiful blue sky. What goes together better than bright yellow and brilliant blue? Not much.

 

 

Disorderly Divine

autumn, Nature

 

 

 

When Chris and I were in Arizona 2 years ago we heard a series of lectures at Arizona State University by a professor from Oxford, Jonathan Bate,  on the subject of “How the Humanities can save the world.” I found them fascinating and have meant to blog about those lectures. Must do that soon.One day Bate  discussed a little known poet by the name of John Clare who Bate says is the most important poet of nature in the UK.  Even though he is not well know.

John Clare was an English poet and the son of a farm labourer, who became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and his deep sadness at its disruption. Like me, he hated to see the commons desecrated. He hated to see the ecosystems of flowers and community disturbed.

 

Clare was not very well known or respected until the 20th century when many started to realize that he was one of the most important poets of the 19th century. Perhaps poets like Clare can help the Humanities save the planet.

He can do that because he points, however vaguely to a new attitude to nature. I have blogged a little bit about that but again must do more. I must return to this subject as soon as I can relegate politics to the backhouse where it belongs

One of Clare’s poems which Bate talked about was “Autumn” in which Clare describes the changing of the seasons:

Thy pencil dashing its excess of shades,

Improvident of waste, till every bough

Burns with thy mellow touch

Disorderly divine.

I love that idea. Autumn leaves evince the disorderly divine. Perhaps what we need to save the planet is the disorderly divine. Perhaps that is what the Humanities can give to us. That’s a lot.

This was the Day the Lord had made

autumn, Nature, religion

 

This was a magnificent autumn day at Buffalo Point. It was Thanksgiving Weekend and we had a lot to be thankful for. We got together with our two sons Nick and Pat who live in Manitoba and one daughter in law, Debbi, and 2 grandchildren, Nolan and Stella. They were all healthy and fully employed.

 

We interpreted Manitoba laws to allow a small gathering. We figured 7 was small, but had tinges of guilt and fear. Just a little.

 

 

 

The blue skies were extravagant and the yellows were sharp. In Manitoba we had few reds. That is a pity, but the colours were still sensational. I  went walk to take photos of the autumn leaves.

 

Astonishingly when I went for a walk I strolled toward the golf course to admire autumn leaves in brilliant foliage. Much to my surprise I met some of my old golfing buddies who I used to golf with regularly before I became a recovering golfer.

Can you imagine that they would waste the time golfing on such a beautiful day? It seems absurd but it was true. What cretans. I must search for a better class of friends. Some who might appreciate truth and beauty.

My mother used to always quote to me a passage from the Bible. “This is the day the lord has made.” She wanted us to read it at her funeral. And we did. This was such a day.

 

Autumn Magic

autumn, Nature

 

Autumn is my favourite time of the year to travel. It might even be my favourite time of the year.

This year I sadly confess I nearly missed it . As a nearly retired guy who works only a little bit, this should not have happened. I let one file of mine interfere with my nice quiet life. My grand daughter Nasya was right when she told me, “Opa you suck at retirement.” Harsh words but children tell you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it.

Maple leaves are the prize of autumn. We don’t really have them in Manitoba other than a few scattered spots. That is a dreadful pity. I know a stop just across the border in Ontario where I try to go at least once each autumn. This year it was very disappointing. Most of the regular spots were barren of maple leaves. I don’t know if I was too later or too early or it was just not a good year.

I did find a couple of trees but most in some places I deemed not very photographic. At least I could not capture them there. So I concentrated on finding them on the ground or rock instead. As some sage said, when the world gives you lemons make lemonade.

 

I always associate autumn with the last part of life. Maybe that is why I appreciate it even more now. The end of life; I am there now. The spectacular beauty; I am not there. Sad.

I believe maple leaves are the prize of autumn. I did not find many, but I did find beauty. It was worth the trip.

Public Health vs. Religious Freedom

Epidemics/Pandemics, Human rights

 

The issues between the Church of God Restoration outside of Steinbach and public health officials have raised some interesting issues relating to freedom of religion. How far does it go?

Members of the church and their supporters have said Manitoba’s laws that make the wearing of masks compulsory in public places and require faith-based institutions to confine their gatherings to virtual on line gatherings which they believe violates their Charter Rights to Freedom of Religion as well as their right to mobility, security, and personal liberty.

Recently, University of Manitoba Professor of Law, whose course on aboriginal rights I audited a couple of years ago, had this to say in response:

“These organizations might be correct that Charter rights have been violated, since the threshold for establishing a rights violation is low. Idiosyncratic religious beliefs and practices are charter-protected as long as they are genuine. Yet court challenges to the face-mask and business-closure laws based on charter rights violations are bound to fail.”

She recently published an article in the Winnipeg Free Press and I want to expand a bit on what she said.

It is not enough to say that Charter Rights to Religious Freedom have been violated. That is only the first step in the analysis. That is because the Charter recognized that no Charter Rights are absolute. We live in a pluralistic society so rights always have to be balanced against the rights of others. It is never as simple as the supporters of the Church of God Restoration are making it out to be.

The Canadians Charter specifically provides that a Charter right may be justifiably violated if a restriction imposed by the government is a “reasonable limit” that is “demonstrably justified” in a “free and democratic society.” If a law passes this test even if it does infringe on Charter right like freedom of religion it is nonetheless lawful.

When rights clash a court may be called upon to determine how the conflict should be resolved.

The Province of Manitoba takes the position that its public health orders are justified because they are necessary to protect the public from a serious international health pandemic. The first question judges ask in such a situation is whether or not there is a “pressing and substantial need” for the government to respond to a problem. Charter violations will not be permitted for trivial needs. Is there any doubt that the current problem is both pressing and substantial? Not in my mind, but no doubt, in the minds of the protesters the need has been greatly exaggerated. But they must present evidence of their claims in court if they want to successfully challenge the admitted infringement.

People making claims in court, will learn that they must present evidence. Courts make decisions based on evidence. Making wild claims to the media may work when you are trying to persuade the public, but courts demand evidence. We too should demand evidence. I have not seen any evidence that supports the claim that Covid-19 is not a serious problem. Have you? As a result I think the church and its supporters will lose on this part of their claim. So the second step goes to the province. This is a serious health problem that deserves a serious response. But this does not end the dispute.

The third step in proving the province’s case is that government response must be proportionate to the harm done to the supporters of the church. The supporters of the church have had their Charter rights violated so the government response must be proportionate to the harm suffered. The province can’t wildly overstep in other words. I think most of us would agree that the admitted harm done to the church members is proportionate to the harm they have suffered and proportionate to the seriousness of the harm done to the public. Again evidence would be needed for a court to decide.

Fourthly, the province must establish in court  with evidence, that there is a rational connection between the means to achieve a goal and the goal itself? In other words, does the public health order imposed by the Province of Manitoba actually help solve the serious health problem Manitoba faces? If not, and it is just there for show for example, the law would not pass as a valid violation of a Charter right. This is a bit more difficult to prove. The province would have to prove to the court’s satisfaction, again based on evidence, that the measures it imposes are really needed to curb the pandemic and would in fact help to keep the public safe.

There is still a fifth step the province must overcome. The province must prove, again based on evidence, that there is no less intrusive way to achieve its goal of protecting the public. For example, is it possible for church members to meet in a way that maintains social distancing? If the province is able to prove there is no other reasonable and viable way of achieving its goal the public health order in the circumstances it would survive the Charter challenge as a reasonable limit on the member’s religious freedom in a free and democratic society. I admit I have some doubts on this score, but suspect the province could bring sufficient evidence to bear to convince the judge that less intrusive measures would be inadequate.

 

I think this is a very rational approach. Letting ignorant pundits on the Internet tell us what to do would not be a rational approach.

I want to make one last point that courts will often defer to governments who have to make decisions in pressure packed environments such as an international health pandemic when governments are trying to protect vulnerable groups such as us old guys. Such decisions really should be made by public health experts and related professionals such as economists and others debating freely with the best available data in front of them. It would not be right for a single judge to make such a decision. Nor should it be made by radical protesters who ignore science at the expense of everyone else.

 

73 Million Americans voted for a Bully

American Fascism, Decline of the west, Trump

 

Americans voted for a man with clear authoritarian if not fascist tendencies. As Conservative commentator and former speech writer for George Bush, David Frum, said, “we don’t realize how ready people are to enjoy the sight of cruelty. The Romans had a Colosseum for 50,000 to 60,000 people and it was filled several times a week for 350 years!”

According to Frum, when Trump ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2015 he was not a hypocrite. He did not pretend to be a good husband, or good father or even a good man. As Frum said, “He was frankly who he was—a bully. He was cruel and he was not ashamed of it. He invited you to enjoy it and a lot of people did.” It is not by accident that many authoritarian dictators are bullies. It almost goes with the territory.

Essentially, Fascism is the philosophy of the bully. Good examples were Hitler and Mussolini. They liked to pick on the weak and vulnerable to show how strong they were. Pick on Jews, or Slavs, or Homosexuals. People who couldn’t fight back.

Now we have a modern fascist—Donald Trump. He wanted to build a fence to keep out the Mexicans from America. Then he promised to make them pay for it. Then he had the idea to keep all Muslims out of America. In 21st century America Muslims are the new Jews. There is no easier target. They constitute only about 1% of the population of America, or less. So naturally that is who Donald Trump the Presidential candidate attacked. He is too cowardly to go after stronger groups.

At first I thought Trump was just a clown. I mocked his increasingly outrageous and increasingly inane comments. Now I know he is much worse than that, he is a fascist–i.e. he is a bully.

And that is what approximately 73 million people voted for in the U.S. in 2020—a bully. I think you can tell a lot about people by who they vote for.

 

Americans voted for a Slow Moving Coup

American Fascism, Death of Democracy, Death of Truth, Trump

 

Bill Maher was the first person I heard say that Trump would not leave the Presidency if he was voted out of office. Others later echoed those fears. For good reason. Trump provided ample evidence that he might do that. As I write, about 3 weeks after the election of 2020, it appears, though it is not certain, that the American democracy has held and the erosive powers have lost. Yet that is still not clear. President Trump and his minions including a vast array of lawyers, each one appearing more comical than the last, has lost about 34 consecutive court cases challenging the election without a victory. Though I heard someone say he won 2 minor victories. So as far as I know the status is not clear. Not yet. I must admit that I have started to stop paying attention already so there may have been changes.

 

Many are calling Trump’s actions an “attempted coup”. Perhaps his most egregious post election action (so far) was the blatant attempt to persuade Republican politicians from Michigan to overturn the substantial Biden majority of votes he obtained on flimsy grounds of voter fraud. So far it looks like the coup will fail. But if it does fail, it has come close. Frighteningly close actually.

And what really bothers me as I keep repeating is that about 73 million of Americans voted for him after it was clear to one and all that this is what he is like. They knew him and liked him enough to vote for him.

Here is what Bill Maher said, way back in 2017 (his list would be a lot longer if it was made in 2020) :

“This is a slow moving coup. Here is a list of things that Donald Trump does that sounds like a 3rd world dictator: You put your name on buildings; you appoint your family members to positions of power; your rallies are scary; you hate the press, and threaten to lock some of them up; you want military parades, you use the office for financial gain; you love other dictators; you lie so freely people can’t tell the difference any more between lies and truth; you crave the constant ridiculous over-the-top flattery that political leaders need. For example, Kim Jong-un of North Korea. They say that he learned to drive at the age of 3, he trained his body so that he never needs to urinate or defecate, he invented the hamburger, when he was born a new star was created and winter turned to spring, the first time he golfed he had 11 holes in one. This is us now. This is America. This is what’s so scary. I see where he is going. When his sycophants lavish praise on him to his face in absurd amounts he stands there soaking it all in as if it is natural and totally de. He served. He nods his head. It’s creepy.”

 

Yes it is creepy. Stephen Colbert used the word fascism to describe this. What is really creepy is Americans voted for this in huge numbers. That tells us a lot about America.  That is creepy too.