I invite every man in his ironed mask to gaze upon me – if you dare. I am your worst nightmare come to life. For everyone startled into a sweat-drenched wakefulness having been chased down through the catacombs by a ghoulish shadow creature; I am the unseen being that the demon monster is desperate to get away from. I am the walking, talking manifestation of Coronavirus. I am the friendless one. The man without a country. The congregant without the church. I am the man without a mask.

Pedestrians cringe and hide their children when we cross paths; choosing to take their chances with traffic rather than share a sidewalk with me. Shop owners shutter their buildings for months at a time when they see me approach. No longer do virtual teachers warn of stranger danger, but how to outrun my killer spittle. I even read Dr. Seuss uncensored and my Elmer Fudd sports a hunting rifle.

While this is an exaggeration, I wish it was rooted in pure fantasy. Sure, I’ve been fairly accused of looking at issues as black or white, but our current conditions demand that we make binary choices. Either we are fully compliant or we are in rebellion as the state is not making requests – they are demanding fealty. In the land of double masked people, the single masked man is a rebel, but the maskless man is a lunatic and an existential threat. Somehow, wanting to do what people have done since time immemorial is a liberty too far. I am not simply flouting Emily Post, but endangering the lives of every Canadian citizen.

Since so many otherwise reasonable people either tacitly or directly treat me as a threat and believe I am being selfish for not wanting to join the Branch Covidians (credit to Steve Deace), I’d like to provide a little perspective. It is one thing to fall out of favour with those who resent me for not embracing the zeitgeist, but those I called friends and have long held in high regard have come to see me as problematic. I want to clear the air by dispelling the fog of misinformation and false assumptions that have made me a pariah. My hope is that by clarifying my stance on this whole CCP virus (and yes, I do want to highlight that this was brought about by the Chinese Communist Party), I can transition from a straw man into a person with a rational counter perspective.

For starters, I neither deny the virus is real, nor that it poses a serious threat primarily to seniors and those with comorbidities and respiratory conditions. I am not a “denier” and the idea that I am so easily dismissed as such makes my point. I have spent much of my adult life dispelling myths related to my Christian faith that paint me as a misogynist for opposing abortion, a racist for rejecting critical race theory, dispassionate for denouncing communism, and any guilty of any number of false assumptions. My hope is that I can find people willing to just listen as I clarify what I believe instead of defending myself against the charge of, “when did you stop socially distancing from your wife?”

In this case, I believe the best way to demonstrate my position is by making clear what I don’t advocate and am in no way responsible for:

• The loss of jobs and economic impact of the lockdowns and restrictions. I can think of no rational explanation for directing people to purchase online and shop at megastores while shuttering small businesses. Applying logic, the more stores that are open, the more options and the less likely people will congregate at a few select locations. Small businesses are the lifeblood of a community and a country. It’s not enough that regulations are making them uncompetitive and driving up costs, but government is exploiting this occasion to drive a stake through the heart of small business. Furthermore, lost jobs and businesses means greater dependence on taxes and needless debt that increases the cost of goods and endangers the supply chain. It also devastates people’s disposable income – thus, endangering their prospects of riding out this man-made storm, and it deprives people of meaningful employment. My view is that government should give ACCURATE information regarding the risk and offer commensurate recommendations and the rest is up to agreement between businesses and the consumer over the terms of service. This is what a free people normally do.
• The skyrocketing cases of suicide, depression, substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, divorce and other impacts arising from social isolation. This never was a case of virus or no virus. Once it was introduced, we had a duty to manage the risk and I believe that anyone excluding these “unintended consequences” from the equation are engaging in selective and conditional compassion. Not only is staying home likely to fray nerves when people are closed off together, but lack of contact with friends, extended family, counselling services, exercise, church gatherings, and similar opportunities compounds the impact. People are social beings and pretending otherwise doesn’t change reality. Furthermore, financial tensions constitute possibly the greatest source of stress in marriages and government is intentionally stepping on this nerve.
• Endangering the lives of seniors and those with comorbidities. While I don’t advocate social isolation, failure to protect the vulnerable is irresponsible and best practises must be put into place for this population. Seniors’ homes are the greatest challenge because of the risk to other residents. I’m not there yet, but if these measures are still in place when I’m no longer buying green bananas, my desire is to be in my own apartment. Visitors are welcome, just don’t come when you are ill. I don’t want to spend my sunset years cut off from those I love. Quality of life matters more to me than the number of years and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. I don’t welcome death, but I don’t fear it. Having these choices taken from us is the crime.
• Children missing out on milestones, social development, physical activity, academics and launching into careers. We are routinely told by the activist left that home schooling denies children the chance for social development. They have also insisted that school breakfast and lunch programs are essential to children’s survival let alone helping them to thrive. Meanwhile, it has been teacher’s unions who have been fighting against children returning to the classroom and filling them with fear of a virus that is known to have a negligible impact on their demographic. To deny children the rites of passage and joys of being a child is malevolent and unconscionable. We are denying our children the pleasures and rites of passage while selling them on fear and miring them in future debt. Our legacy is deplorable and I claim no responsibility for these abuses – and make no mistake, this is child abuse.
• The negative consequences of mask wearing. While some may exaggerate the impact, others are right there to minimise them. These deleterious factors are relevant, so the only question is to what degree do they have an effect. Breathing through a mask reduces blood-oxygen levels, increases carbon monoxide toxicity, leads to increased facial touching, causes moisture retention in the lungs and requires more effort to breathe. These risks are elevated by double or triple masking (as some have advocated) and based on prolonged use. Oh, and did I mention that studies do not establish that the masks work and there are actually credible claims that regular mask wearing increases the likelihood of contracting the CCP virus. Many also have pre-existing physical and/or emotional health conditions that exacerbate the danger, yet many services refuse to honour exemptions.
• The risks arising from the vaccines. Rushing vaccines without long-term testing to ostensibly mute the effects of a virus that is on par with a flu for most demographics is irrational. If health is the objective, this would seem a questionable trade-off. I won’t stand in the way of anyone champing at the bit to offer themselves up as human lab rats, but include me out. Burying the statistics of the fallout doesn’t make them disappear any more than getting the injection makes the masks disappear. As I read the ledger, its all risk and no benefit – at least until the state uses this as our western social credit score to determine who can travel, buy and sell, and all the other benefits of living under a tyranny.
• Deaths caused by people being warned off of or denied access to prophylactics. “Experts have been pushing for people to try fast-tracked experimental drugs while besmirching proven remedies such as hydroxychloroquine strictly either because they wanted to force vaccinations or as pushback against Donald Trump because – orange man bad. Not only have these options been shown to be safe and effective for early treatment, but recently the misinformation has been recanted by many of those who had warned against it. The numbers of lives lost because of this politicization are indefensible.
• The growing distrust and animus between fellow human beings. As an introvert, avoiding social interactions is my factory setting. I have worked hard to overcome it and I know that fighting this natural tendency has been one of the most rewarding pleasures of my life. It has helped me to be more loving, forgiving, outgoing and to not see others as social constructs. There is no way to be a genuine community behind a mask, through Skype, over the phone, or via protracted discussions in a parking lot. It is no victory to remove the bushel that obscures your light only to move it to your basement while you scroll through social media. This is enduring, it’s not living.
• Stifling factual information in order to make wise choices. We are having what experts we must listen to hand-picked and, like every other social issue that “progressive” ideologues get their claws into. They select the experts based on how closely the numbers on their respective BINGO cards coincide and attack anyone not of the same faith community. The sources deemed to be experts could change on a dime (much like the many faces of Anthony Fauci), so it is not the institution or level of analysis that matters, but the conclusions reached. Arguably, the main reason I am an outcast is that I have more information than those who fear where the facts lead.
• Presume to tell others how they should live or interfere in anyone else’s health choices. My interest is in exercising my personal freedom, not imposing my standards on others. Each person should determine what mitigations they want to take based on whatever sources they trust. I may look askance at your decision to go full bubble wrap or solder yourself into your home until every CCP COVID droplets shrivels up, but I will defend to the death my right to not take part. I’m simply asking that you extend to me the same personal agency that I extend to you. I will not encroach on anyone’s personal comfort or violate their social distancing wishes. In fact, if you have 911 on speed dial in the event that I might take a step into your neighbourhood, just give me the 411 and I’ll be more than happy to take the long way around to keep away. Chances are that meeting up would be unpleasant for both of us.

I have heard many people say that this is a choice between the economy and people as though the two are mutually exclusive. Our community includes commerce as it includes schools, churches, recreation, the arts, counselling, and any number of ways we do life together. People are accepting at face value that if people catch the CCP, it’s because they are not following the mandates enough. As the lone wolf wandering away from the pack, I can tell you that I’m alone out there, so failure to comply is not the issue. The best way to measure is to compare countries and states with draconian and punitive lockdowns and those who leave it up to the public. Spoiler alert! The information does not demonstrate that any mandate has led to improved outcomes. One would thing this detail should matter when making some of the most consequential decisions to take away every possible right and liberty.

A well-meaning friend challenged me that even though I may be right in my assessment of the true implications of the virus, I should muzzle up in order to participate in this replacement for genuine fellowship based on the scripture that speaks about food sacrificed to idols. While I honour his intent, I can’t agree, but since this is a vast improvement on simply looking at me as a disease infested reprobate, I want to give a thorough response to his analogy.

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world: and the “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. – 1 Corinthians 8

There are several ways that I believe this analogy actually indicts those on the other side of this issue. Consider the following:

1. Couldn’t the mask effectively be considered the idol? If not, then couldn’t a willingness to accede full authority to chosen experts to violate freedoms guaranteed by our Creator be considered be a case of putting other gods before the one true God? This is about adopting the idols of the pagan culture (snake oil, if you will) to ward off the evil spirits of the “rona.” I don’t wear a mask to make a statement, but because I deem it unnecessary. The perception that I am politicizing the issue comes from my not allowing government to interject itself in my freedom to worship.
2. Paul’s warning is based on those seeking to stringently pursue purity by avoiding a potential pitfall. We know that drinking alcohol is not sinful, but drunkenness is. For some, alcohol can be a stumbling block and it would be best to not drink in while in their company. That is an apt analogy. The only temptation here is complacency and passive acceptance that government is the arbiter of whether or not I might worship and under what conditions. This makes the masker the stumbling block for me seeking to follow biblical guidance by surrendering to Caesar what is God’s.
3. I am not engaging in an act that might offend the weak person; I am REFUSING to participate in a secular duty. These are not the same thing. If my church started placing holy water in the narthex and required that everyone dip their finger and make the sign of the cross and pray the rosary to not offend, I would not participate. This is because I am a Protestant evangelical and I see such indulgences (see what I did there) as contrary to what I see as scriptural authority. If I won’t adopt practices that are supposed to be under the larger umbrella of “Christianity,” why should I feel compelled to follow secular dictates to attend my church or face scorn from other members of the flock?
4. The same people have been consenting to be shut down rather than follow our Christian duty to gather together. If there is no food, how can it be sacrificed to gods? This is not about trying to stay spiritually pure, but avoiding the ‘rona. The mask and lockdown are about submission, not protecting Christian virtue. Samuel relays a message from God to Saul who disobeyed God’s direction, telling Saul that “to obey is better than sacrifice.” This does not mean we are to sacrifice our allegiance to God by acting in obedience to the state . We are to be obedient to the words of the Hebrew writer who reminds us that we are not to give up meeting together. There is no addendum that makes exceptions for a virus.
5. I believe that leadership should be teaching against wrongly judging others; especially when the division is the result of fear. If following mask mandates is not some pledge based on conforming to government, then at the least, the church should be advising followers not to fear. After all, I’ve been told that some form of “do not fear” is mentioned 365 times throughout scripture. Shouldn’t we be teaching that blindly complying to the state is ill-advised – especially for a people told to expect persecution? Similarly, if my friend is suggesting that I am more attuned to the facts about the virus and this informs my response, shouldn’t that information be exhorted to the rest of the congregation while allowing them to do what they are comfortable with. If my attending church requires that I sublimate what I know to be true, participate in the propagation of fear, and meekly submit to government mandates merely because they demand it, then what does it mean to be a follower of Christ?

Too few seem to understand that my stance is not borne of selfishness or stubbornness – at least not solely or primarily. These realities do not happen in a vacuum. We are living in a time where basic rights for the believer are increasingly suspect and are being eroded. I’ve not had an answer to a couple of questions that I have asked several times:

1. How long can government continue to do this and the public should simply go along? One more year? Five? Ten? Twenty? Fifty? With ever moving goalposts, a society that can’t answer those questions and simply trusts everything will work out are ripe for tyranny and I’d rather not wait for the Stasi to burst in before putting up resistance.
2. If government did want to eradicate Christian influence and wanted to use a manufactured crisis to do so, wouldn’t it look a lot like this? Every subjugation of a population that eventually falls under dictatorial rule necessitates the persecution and censoring of Christian speech. It is carried out gradually in order to gain cooperation. We are already losing our rights to express our opinion by meeting together or even communicating on social media. We are losing jobs or being fired if we refuse to adopt anti-Christian values. Laws and enforcement are making concessions for progressives to engage in destructive protesting and rioting while churches uniquely face fines and are tightly policed.

We are told by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 that we now see things through a glass darkly – knowing our experiences in the present are a pale reflection of the glory to come. In our present masked reality, we are volunteering to live our earthly existence under a burka-level veil that God never intended us to wear. A glass at least allows light while a mask blots it out. We are desperately clinging for dear life at a time where our mission is to lead people to freedom in Christ in preparation for an eternity that promises majesty beyond what we can imagine. Why on earth would anyone take us seriously when we don’t even take ourselves seriously?