Are you a person of faith or a person
of science? Or maybe like me, you feel like those words don’t mean what they
used to anymore.
Faith has been popularly defined as
“the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” This
definition which is based on faith and a belief in God, has now been adopted by
governments to get people to buy into policies.
Australian Police attacked Canberra Freedom Convoy, protesters who did not trust the government's Covid vaccination policies |
In some cases when we are confronted
with catastrophes, plagues or even a pandemic, we have to put our trust in a
solution that may not have been fully tested or explained — that’s faith.
Faith has often
been confused with science. I am a social scientist and stay away from making
pronouncements in the area of natural science. But it isn’t hard to recognize
that natural science has turned into beliefs that are also based on faith.
Claims like
“trust the science” are actually displays of faith rather than confidence in the
scientific method. The scientific method requires a hypothesis and rigorous
testing. Science is not trusted, it is tested.
The past two
years have been frustrating for those among us who like to ask questions in
order to have a better understanding of what is going on around us.
Questions were
mocked, ridiculed, and demonized and people were outright silenced for asking
simple questions about COVID or even vaccines.
In my training
as a lawyer whenever I encountered an aggressive, bullying person my instincts
told me they were hiding something. Coercion always put me on alert that
something wasn’t right.
At the beginning
of the pandemic, we were all happy to “get vaccinated” in order to protect our
neighbours, grandparents, and the vulnerable in society.
Any scientist
who spoke the truth that the COVID vaccine is a tool to reduce hospital burden
by minimizing the symptoms - but it would not completely prevent contracting or
spreading COVID - was vilified, de-platformed, and ostracized as a dangerous conspiracy
theorist.
Canadians turned
against their family members refusing to see them by falsely believing that
vaccinated people were immune from getting COVID.
Friends and co-workers
yelled at colleagues to “GET VACCINATED”.
People threw
down one of the major tenets of our medical system – privacy and started
divulging their vaccination status, even peer pressured into posting pictures
of themselves getting vaccinated on social media.
When you met
someone for the first time, they often told you their vaccination status before
they told you their name.
People like me
were punished for insisting that we can be safe without violating the
foundations of our democracy including the right to medical privacy and free
and informed consent.
I accepted my
punishment by not receiving a critic/shadow cabinet position even though all I
had to do was simply disclose my vaccination status.
I refused
because I believe that my principles were worth more to me than any position.
As I watched the
illogical madness around me, I refused to be dragged into a system headed for
segregation and erosion of our fundamental values and said, “I will stand for
my convictions — cost it what it may!"
The past few
years have been based on faith, not in any deity, but in government with so many
people never questioning information presented by both elected and unelected
officials.
The government has
seen how well this blind allegiance to faith works with policy.
Now, we must ask
ourselves whether we will remain silent while our government implements
environmental policies that have little or no connection with reducing
emissions; enters into international agreements that diminish our sovereignty,
reduce farming capacity, and curtail the development of our natural resources;
or implements health and vaccine passes that could easily be programmed to
integrate with other aspects of our lives and encroach on things that we once
thought personal.
We need to end
this style of government where politicians demand absolute trust and blind
faith in their policies - while they demonize those who ask questions.
We need to wake
up and recognize that every time a politician labels something a conspiracy
theory it’s often to avoid answering your question; and unfortunately, it’s
often to hide the fact that they are outright lying to you!
It’s time we had
politicians who showed a little faith in the people they are supposed to serve,
and that requires that we end this era of intellectual darkness and blind faith
and allegiance to the politicians and bureaucrats who underestimate our
intelligence.
Will you help me
build a government where elected officials are answerable to the people, and
where policies are not based on blind faith?
The writer Dr Leslyn Lewis is a Canadian lawyer and member of the House of Commons of Canada who is also running to be Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
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