The one-two punch of the Covid-19 pandemic and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s return to the national stage have revived the perennial topic of vaccine denialism. There are many reasons this skepticism remains so popular, some more understandable than others. A friend was recently freaking out about vaccines. She had just vaccinated her daughter, and now the kid was having some unpleasant symptoms. My friend was sure of two things: The symptoms were a reaction to the vaccine, and they were horribly dangerous, possibly lethal.
No, three things: that this was evidence she had made a mistake. Her kid was suffering, and therefore she should not have vaccinated her.
I know where she was coming from. My kids and I are all fully vaccinated with every recommended vaccine, and I have done enough research that I understand more or less how they work, what is in them and why they are so important. At the same time, I am old enough to see that just because something is backed by science does not mean it is infallible. What I am not old enough to remember is what life was like before vaccines. I have a single chickenpox scar on my chin, but I never saw mumps, never saw rubella, never saw polio. My childhood friends all survived childhood.
And it may seem, because of this basically healthy world we live in, that the choice we face is between deciding to take the risk of bad side effects or refusing to take that risk. But really, the choice is between taking the risk of massive suffering from horrifying diseases or taking the much smaller risk of much lesser suffering from vaccinating. That is the real choice.
But vaccines are the victim of their own success. Because they have been so effective, people forget what they are protecting us against, forget why they are necessary.
Salvation is the same.
If we have grown up Catholic, or even if our conversion or reversion was a few years ago, it is very easy to start taking salvation for granted. Even people who are not Christian themselves have been marinating in Christianity for so long, they don’t recognize it for what it is, which is the very air we breathe. Honest historians do know this and will point out just how much Christianity has permeated and permanently transformed the world we live in.
But because Christianity is so familiar, we simply see it as the norm rather than as something novel, amazing and transformative. This is partly because we don’t clearly understand what life was like before it—or without it.
Jesus Christ, too, is a victim of his own success.
Because we can’t remember or conceive of life without Christ, we may start to think a Christless life wasn’t so bad, that the real threat of entering into the waters of baptism are the side effects that may come along with it: things like the dullness of having to do all those churchy obligations or the embarrassment of living in ways our friends or family don’t understand or the real pains of self-denial. Or that you might have to make big changes in your life.
So is it worth the risk? Is it true that the immense benefits of being Christian outweigh its likely risks?
Before I answer that question, let’s return to the original analogy. I used to think that vaccine skeptics were just people who hadn’t done their homework or who did not understand very much history or science. Now I see…Read the rest of my latest for America Magazine.
Photo by Steven Kamps on Unsplash
This is a really helpful reflection, especially following election season, which was painful and confusing to see what seemed like good people being blind. Thanks for the reminder that people are often shaped and their ideas distorted by the pain they have suffered, and usually aren’t just crazy or evil.
Please stop Simcha! You have such a beautiful family! Don’t let politics and bad feelings mess that up! Can’t you see that these supposed “vacccines” aren’t really vaccines at all? Isn’t a real vaccine like the ones that stopped smallpox? These are entirely something else! And I say this to you not in some bs political arena but as a mom to mom . Look at the stats girl! Do research yourself! Really, If respect your family and I know how hard it is to do all this. But please do the research and see for yourself the data. JMJ +
Sometimes I forget that you have waaaaaaay more faith in Big Pharma than I do.
I guess I trust science, but I also trust that Big Pharma’s lobbyists have their tentacles in the CDC, FDA, and even my local healthcare provider’s office. And don’t forget about the big bonus they’ll give your local grocery store manager if he meets their vaccination goals.
As a somewhat relevant aside: the other day, my husband and I were watching the Eagles game. Every ad was political. I said to my husband, “what are they gonna try to sell us once this stupid election is over?” Without missing a beat, he replied, “Pharmaceuticals…and Lume.”
I am so happy that we have access to vaccines in the US and that new vaccines are being developed that save us from the real and tragic suffering I’ve seen in countries in lesser developed countries. Honestly, it is staggering to be in India or Africa and see the effects of a lack of even basic vaccines.
You are absolutely right.
It explains why the number of Christians is growing in Africa and in Asia, while it’s getting smaller in “western” countries.
The Good News sounds like old news to people who grew up in the western civilization. People take for granted that an almighty God wants to make Himself fragile and that anyone can be His child. Things like that are unthinkeable in other cultures.
This is BRILLIANT dear Simcha ♥️