Fear and Its Proponents

Reading a headline along the lines of ‘vaccine-sceptic US Cardinal out of intensive care after covid diagnosis’ it came as no very great surprise to discover that the Cardinal in question is longstanding antagonist of the Bishop of Rome, Raymond Burke of Wisconsin, poster-boy of Roman Catholic conservatives the world over. Cardinal Burke is known for controversial statements on a variety of topics, but it depresses one slightly to find him in exactly the position you would predict on this issue too, even though its relationship with Christian faith is indirect to say the least. In some places online you will see him quoted as spreading the rumour that the covid vaccines contain injectable microchips, but to give even him some credit, this is not the case; his statements opposing compulsory vaccinations (something I sympathise with, on the grounds that the skin marks the inviolable boundary of the state’s mandate over sane people) go back before the pandemic, and in the interview in question he seems to be drawing a parallel between that and forms of governmental techno-monitoring of individuals’ behaviour, rather than connecting them directly.

But the Cardinal’s overall attitude to covid is, as I say, clear and predictable. It’s summarised in a homily he preached on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin last December. This is his argument. The US has treacherously been made economically dependent on Marxist materialism in the form of China; the pandemic is being used to destroy Christian faith and practice; the Church is full of moral and theological laxity and incapable of mounting a defence. All Christians can do is flee to Our Lady who weeps along with them.

I am very sure Our Lady weeps on occasion, and in this baleful picture there are, not surprisingly, some colours that while lurid are not too far off reality. The influence of China is indeed troublesome; the Church certainly hasn’t covered itself with glory during the pandemic, though if the Cardinal thinks the Roman dispensation has been wanting in this respect he should peer this side of the Tiber. But it’s the middle bit of his case which catches the ear:

Then, there is the mysterious Wuhan virus about whose nature and prevention the mass media daily give us conflicting information. What is clear, however, is that it has been used by certain forces, inimical to families and to the freedom of states, to advance their evil agenda. These forces tell us that we are now the subjects of the so-called “Great Reset”, the “New Normal”, which is dictated to us by their manipulation of citizens and nations through ignorance and fear. Now, we are supposed to find in a disease and its prevention the way to understand and direct our lives, rather than in God and in His plan for our salvation. The response of many Bishops and priests, and of many faithful has manifested a woeful lack of sound catechesis. So many in the Church seem to have no understanding of how Christ continues His saving work in times of plague and of other disasters…. At a time when we most need to be close to one another in Christian love, worldly forces would isolate us and have us believe that we are alone and dependent upon secular forces which would make us slaves to their godless and murderous agenda.

Is the virus mysterious? Is information about its nature and prevention conflicting? I mean, my feeling is that, while we may not and will probably never know where it came from, we understand pretty much everything we need to about it. Nobody knows where the Spanish Flu of 1919 originated, or pretty much any other pandemic infection. Like most covid-sceptics talking outside their own echo-chambers the Cardinal never ties any of his argument down to definitive statement: he insinuates, hints and suggests – ‘certain forces’ are to blame, the shadowy elites who are, apparently, not only content with enriching themselves (which is the left-wing reading of the ‘Great Reset’), but also destroying the Christian faith and replacing God as well. I can’t think of anything emanating from the World Health Organisation, the World Economic Forum, the UN, or any other organisation of global influence which could justify such an idea, but what do I know.

Great Reset language, and the reaction to it, interests me. A global crisis which halts so much of human society seems to me almost inevitably to bring into question many of the normal aspects of social organisation: it’s natural that individuals and organisations should have their usual habits shaken up and query whether they actually want to resume them. You see that everywhere, including churches. It strikes me as a natural, obvious, and entirely healthy thing. The use of this language by rich and influential individuals operating on the global stage is surely just a reflection of the same psychological instinct; what they mean by it and how far they are prepared to do anything about it is another matter. From Prince Charles to Karl Schwab they seem to me to be vaguely progressive and well-meaning souls who have no real conception that anything about their own lives or positions might have to be sacrificed to bring about the changes that they say they want, and that is also standard, for the rich and for all of us, most of the time. That's why the change they promote might well enrich and empower such people still more, even if they don't actively plan it that way. 

Cardinal Burke also shares this with the secular covid-sceptics I have come across: that while he blames the elites for controlling the ignorant masses through fear, it is his own discourse which is fear-filled. Its lack of specifics and detail is exactly what energises fear: its story of undefined, dark, evil forces who control our lives, manipulating and terrorising us, out to destroy everything we value and that makes our lives worthwhile. In complete contrast, the mainstream narrative of the pandemic has concentrated on casting light and hope. Here is a new virus; this is serious in this way, and in this way; but look, this is what we can do about it; and thanks to scientific effort, there’s the prospect of putting it behind us, isn’t that good? I have no doubt the Devil makes use of any situation. It is hard to see, however, the use he can make out of lots of people not dying of a disease, and any sort of Christianity that concludes widespread horrible death is a salutary thing needs to look at itself hard.