contributed by Chad McCarty
From a deep belief that God has imbued each human being with the free will to think and choose for themselves, I contend that, having examined the available evidence, it would violate my deepest convictions to capitulate to a coercive campaign to receive an experimental medical intervention in the form of a pharmaceutical product, the manufacturers of which are exempt from legal liability, the long term effects of which are unknown, and for a disease that I am at a vanishingly low risk of complications from. Furthermore, I believe that as we come from nature, and that God is essentially nature, humans have taken a disturbing turn to not only think of ourselves as separate from nature, and therefore God, but also put ourselves in opposition to it. This is clearly demonstrated in the war metaphors that are at the core of how we interact with the biome and virome, in the extractive logic that is leading to mass extinction, the destruction of species, and even the replacement of the whole natural world. I also believe that as conscious beings, inextricable from nature, it is the height of hubris to tamper with life at the genetic level. We have already witnessed the fraud and destruction that tampering with the genome of plants has caused, as it leads to the destruction of biodiversity, devastated landscapes, millions upon millions of ruined lives, and only serves to enrich biotech, big ag, big pharma, big financial institutions, etc. This is not about safety, it is about power and control, and I believe that God’s plan for humanity is a free humanity, not one enslaved in a biosecurity dystopian nightmare.
Well said, Chad! Thanks for writing this.