The coronavirus which causes COVID-19 is evolving. Evolution deniers, take note.
As Jack recently noted, the number of COVID cases is ticking up again in the US, even in the midst of a COVID vaccination rollout which has been relatively successful, at least in the first phase. Here in Illinois, the number of cases has been rising in the last couple of weeks, and the percentage of positive tests also has been rising. The City of Chicago's Department of Public Health has reissued travel advisories for those who travel from Missouri and Arkansas.
Public health spokespersons are attributing this surge (if one may use that term) to the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Our local hospitals are now reporting that considerably more than half of those COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospitals are infected with the Delta variant.
The brief thought is this: we are witnessing the truth of the theory of evolution before our eyes. The COVID virus mutates. Some of those mutations appear to be evolutionary "dead ends": they do not transmit from carrier to carrier, and do not pose public health risks. But some, like the Delta variant, are proving to be highly transmissible, and thrive in unvaccinated human populations.
And now there is also a Lambda variant, spreading quickly in South America, but found on multiple continents, including North America.
It is possible that, as new mutations continue to evolve, one or more could prove resistant to existing vaccines, and thus pose a significant public health threat, even to those of us who are fully vaccinated.
When I was a child in the 1970s, the theory of evolution was controversial. There were many Americans who denied the theory, primarily for reasons of religious belief and biblical interpretation. The deniers organized into a political movement, with so-called Creationists running for school board positions, and a few places mandating that Creationism be taught alongside evolution in public schools.
Even today, this article reports that somewhere between 18% and 31% of Americans can be described as holding Creationist beliefs.
The refusal of otherwise-functional adult Americans to accept scientific truths such as the theory of evolution is by turns disconcerting, depressing and maddening. Anti-science viewpoints certainly are impairing the country's ability to reach the critical mass of vaccinations necessary to end the COVID-19 public health threat. My supposition is that there is wide overlap between the set of Americans who hold Creationist views and the set who refuse to be vaccinated (and also refuse to take other reasonable COVID-related health precautions).
Refusal to accept the truth of climate change and confront its threat is another instance of refusing to accept the truth coming from science.
Catholic theology works hard to harmonize theological tenets with scientific truths. Our view of revelation is capacious enough to accept the fruits of scientific discovery. Catholics may hold some Christian tenets in common with Creationists. But it is important the Catholics line up on the side of truth, when it comes to important public policy areas like COVID-19 and climate change.
In the 1918 pandemic the H1N1 virus went around the world four times. Since it is now the seasonal flue which continues to mutate, it is likely that the four waves were four different variants.
ReplyDeleteNow that we have commercial air travel the variants likely spread faster than then. Whether that is an advantage or disadvantage remains to be seen.
Yes this is a real opportunity for Catholics to become leaders in regard to COVID vaccination.
ReplyDeleteMy previous post established that we are already leaders in comparison to both Mainline and especially Evangelical groups where the real problem is.
Of course those Evangelicals are were most of the evolution and science denies are located.
I am posting daily at the ND Conference about the pandemic, and the necessity for parishes to face the problem of the unvaccinated. So far people have ignored my posts.
Everybody is primed for figuring out what they need to do to get them back. They are not facing the fact that we will continue to have to deal with the virus.
On our nightly television newscasts, I see Black Protestant ministers speaking on camera and out in the community, going door to door to help get people vaccinated.
DeleteOne can't help but be reminded of the Gospel readings the last couple of weeks, in which the Twelve were sent out to bring healing.
If Catholic clergy are doing any of these activities, I haven't seen it. I was remarking to my wife that I don't have a good sense of how vaccinated our faith community actually is. I posted here a few months ago about a parishioner who will not get vaccinated and will urge his child not to, either. If that is how this person feels, surely there are at least a few others who feel the same.
I don't know that going door-to-door is the right approach in this community; lack of mobility, availability or access isn't the issue around here. The issue around here is plain intransigence or stubbornness: 'I don't want the vaccine, I'm not going to get it, and you can't make me get it.' How does one overcome that?
It seems irrational for a party to promote beliefs that can kill off their own members. But it is consistent with a party that wants to rid itself of democratic choice. If they can gain absolute power before their support from the populace collapses, that'll work.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like calling it the "Republican Party" anymore. That insults Lincoln, Eisenhower, McCain. Perhaps "Depublican" or "Unpublican"?
Maybe just the Publican party. They were collaborators with the oppressors.
DeleteIt took me a long time to understand the meaning of the word "publican" in some biblical translations. I guess we use the term "tax collector" in the translation we use today in the US Catholic masses.
DeleteAnother meaning of "publican" is "bartender" or "pub owner". When I was in formation, my wife and I were part of a small prayer group with four other couples in formation, led by a deacon and his wife. At one point, we figured out that of the six men in the group, five of them had worked as a bartender at some point in their careers. (I was the odd man out, but I quickly pointed out that I had at one time been a devoted *patron* of taverns.) So it seems there is some sort of strong correlation between diaconal ministry and filling tankards. In addition, I have read that, as a young man, Francis worked as a bouncer in the family bar. So I am happy to stand in solidarity with publicans! (At least one definition of the word.)
If I remind correctly I think Boehner is Republican pub owner.
DeleteI remember a post somewhere vilifying AOC as a bartender. I protested, saying that I like people who bring me nice things to eat and drink. I certainly don't remember a lawyer ever making me happy.
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