Should we follow the Pope’s advice and make it illegal to drive to church?

by philg

“Pope Francis: A Crisis Reveals What Is in Our Hearts” (NYT):

With some exceptions [here’s looking at you, Sweden!], governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak.

Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom!

(Imagine a healthy 21-year-old believing that being locked into his/her/zir/their apartment is a reduction in his/her/zir/their personal freedom! He/she/ze/they is free to sit in any room in the apartment, watch any TV show, and eat anything/everything from the fridge.)

If we take the Pope at his/her/zir/their word, after coronaplague is a distant memory shouldn’t it be illegal for people to drive to a Catholic church? When it is quite easy for people to participate via Zoom, if “protecting health and saving lives” is the #1 goal, why let anyone subject themselves and others to the risk of an accident on the roads? A person killed from a car accident is just as dead as a person killed by COVID-19 (and, in fact, the loss of life-years is likely to be much higher due to the much younger age and better health of the average car accident victim).

God is everywhere, according to the Catholic religion. If we #FollowThePope, why shouldn’t the government protect health and save lives by forbidding anyone from driving to church in order to find God?

Related:

9 thoughts on “Should we follow the Pope’s advice and make it illegal to drive to church?”

    • Russil: Exactly! Catholics can do their share to stop the carnage on our roads by refraining from non-essential driving and either walking to church or Zooming it in. That’s a small “sacrifice” and they are showing “solidarity” with those who are concerned about minimizing traffic deaths, keeping hospital rooms available for those infected with the next round of viruses, etc.

    • The fallacy of the excluded middle strikes again!

      You may be interested in some research on the economic impact of Covid. In short, high-income workers (e.g. people who normally work downtown) cut their spending drastically. Lower-income, younger workers (e.g. people who work in downtown cafes, restaurants, and shops) were the ones who lost their jobs.

      We first show that high-income individuals reduced spending sharply in mid-March 2020, particularly in areas with high rates of COVID-19 infection and in sectors that require in-person interaction. This reduction in spending greatly reduced the revenues of small businesses in affluent ZIP codes. These businesses laid off many of their employees, leading to widespread job losses especially among low-wage workers in affluent areas. High-wage workers experienced a “V-shaped” recession that lasted a few weeks, whereas low-wage workers experienced much larger job losses that persisted for several months.

    • Russil: I am shocked that the old rich people who run U.S. state governments set things up so that old rich people are protected while young poor/middle-income people are harmed.

    • Regardless of what the government does, people aren’t going to crowd into offices, restaurants, shops, and airplanes when they’re afraid of getting Covid. If you try to ignore Covid and keep everything open, more people will get infected (South Dakota is getting close to 10% confirmed infected), there still won’t be enough customers, and people will still lose their jobs. That’s why you need temporary financial support, both for unemployed workers and for businesses.

  2. The current Pope’s faith is not Christian at all.

    He’s an adherent of liberation theology. Which is simply another flavor of socialist death cult.

  3. Prophecy says that when antichrist becomes Pope, it is the end of the days. So maybe we should all just relax and wait for apocalypse.
    They closed the churches, which they didn’t dare even in communist days. It will break my mother’s heart. But the measures are there to protect her. Now blessed by the Pope, as it seams.

  4. This Pope has stuck around long enough to see the third Obama Administration. That’s all you need to know.

Comments are closed.