We used to sacrifice lives to preserve our freedom. Now we sacrifice our freedom to preserve lives

When I was entering my teens, the Vietnam War was still raging. So I assumed that it would go on indefinitely and that when I was eighteen my name would go to the lottery and I might as well be called. I dreaded the prospect, although even then I could understand the rationale for conscription and why my father supported it so strongly. Our society has been built on democratic principles that enshrine fundamental human freedoms. Those freedoms were threatened by the unholy ideology of communism (or so we had been told), so it was right and proper for us to come together to defend our country and protect those freedoms, even if it meant that countless numbers of our young people must die, maybe including me!

The time has changed. I thank God for not having to go to fight in Vietnam, and now I am unequivocally opposed to the practice of compulsory military service. That’s because I no longer believe that the way they sell us our wars, as noble causes. Tea ‘domino principle’ that was used to justify the position in Vietnam turned out to be empty. We had nothing to do in Vietnam other than in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria. I no longer believe in conscription because I don’t trust the government. Still, I accept the basic principle that there are things worth dying for and that we must be willing to pay a price to defend our freedoms. So what happened?

I remember when the closures were first announced, I posted a video on Facebook, expressing concern and suggesting that we should think about where we draw the line. If we accept social distancing and orders to stay at homeIs there a point where we draw a line? When we are no longer allowed to hug our children, is that where we draw the line?

I posted that in March 2020 and received an immediate call from my bishop asking me to remove it. He said, “Nobody says we can’t hug our kids”, as if I had ventured into the absurd. I downloaded the video. Within weeks of that phone call, I saw news footage of a man disembarking from his plane in Darwin, where his young son ran to hug him. Dad backed away with his hands in the air. The lockdown rules had gone into effect while he had been in flight and, in fact, the man was prohibited from hugging his son.

Not long after that, my position as pastor ended, a position I had held for thirty years. At least that meant I could repost my video. Yes, I have been able to speak freely since then, although no doubt many hoped that by denying myself a pulpit, I would be left preaching in a vacuum.

I have never accepted, and do not accept now, that what is driving our government’s response to this ‘great pandemic’ it is purely a public health concern. This is in large part because the statistics do not, and have never, justified the level of totalitarian response we have endured.

Yes, people have died. In fact, a good friend of mine died of COVID 19. He died in Syria and not Australia, but I don’t deny for a second that the virus is real and deadly. Still, there are many things in this world that can kill us, and of course governments should play some role in trying to protect us, but it is a question of balance.

The roads can be deadly. People die every day from car accidents, but we did not lower the national speed limit to 40 km / hour, although we know very well that this would save more than a thousand lives each year!

We know that by allowing families to build in-ground pools in their backyards, the number of domestic drownings will inevitably increase. We still let them do it.

We know that by banning the sale and consumption of alcohol, as the United States did for thirteen full years (between 1920 and 1933, road deaths would drop, domestic violence cases would drop, and there would be far fewer fights on the streets. Even so, not only do we not prohibit the sale of alcohol, but even in the most serious of confinements, the sale of alcohol has been considered an essential service!

I just don’t think that public health was the sole and sufficient reason to block large numbers of healthy people, and if it were, then surely the health cost of blockages would have been given more importance.

Lockdowns destroy small businesses and cause people to lose their jobs, which in turn leads to stress, poverty, depression and domestic tensions. Furthermore, while the lockdowns may be only a minor disruption for the wealthy and healthy, for those on the edge, the lockdowns threaten to push them to the limit.

As I mentioned, I have lost a friend to COVID. Even so, I know of seven who have committed suicide during these confinements. One of the guys from my boxing club told me one night that he had gone to see his father, but he came to find that he had hanged himself. How do you recover from something like that?

I read that during the Melbourne shutdown, youth suicide increased by 180%. I am surprised that it is not more.

I have not had a paid job since I lost my church position and I have been struggling. The confinements are suffocating. The universe no longer seems like a friendly place. Stopping the pain through self-destruction starts to seem like a credible way forward. Of course it is not. It never is. Even so, I have felt the pull of the abyss and I cry for those for whom that pull has been too great.

We used to think freedom was worth dying for. What happened? Well … the narrative changed.

In today’s official narrative we are indeed at war, but the enemy is COVID and we are all united to fight it.

Yes, we will all have to endure some hardships and inevitably some will have to sacrifice more than others, but once we have achieved victory over the enemy virus, all these hardships will soon be forgotten. The economy will recover, small businesses will thrive again, the government will relinquish all emergency powers, and electronic monitoring and surveillance will be gone forever. Those who committed suicide will all be resurrected. And we won’t even remember what social distancing was as we will all be too busy hugging each other in celebration!

Does this sound good?

The only thing that makes the official narrative seem plausible is that the counter-narratives, most of which point to secret cabal plotting the destruction of the human race, seem even less plausible. Personally, I do not accept any of these narratives. Rather, I believe that what is driving the global response to the virus are the same twin forces that drive almost everything else in this world, namely the lust for power and money, both of which are fueled by fear.

Fear sells newspapers, fearful populations are easy to control, and of course, in this extraordinarily litigious culture, both companies and governments are terrified of being sued if held responsible for someone’s death because they didn’t do enough to protect them.

The institutional church works exactly this way. I remember while I was still in seminary I heard a bishop warn us that we (the church) must be careful not to apologize to our indigenous population so that we are not sued like the church in Canada, which then seemed to soon be insolvent. So I said to the bishop, “But shouldn’t we just do the right thing and let the chips fall where they can?” I don’t think I have received an answer.

With any large company, government or institution, the bottom line will always be the bottom line, so the church cannot risk allowing people to worship for the same reason that we cannot risk being honest about of our history.

We cannot open the way for dozens of litigants to come forward and say “my grandmother would still be alive if you only closed the church doors”. No! We must do whatever it takes: close doors, let people sing, speak, hug, deny faith if necessary … just protect the bottom line!

There are alternative ways out of this mess.

For our leaders, we need them to be guided by love and not fear. As the apostle John said, “perfect love casts out all fear”. (1 John 4:18), if love is too much to ask for, a basic respect for human dignity will suffice.

For the rest of us, we must be willing to take personal responsibility for our own health and let the government focus on its real job: protecting our freedoms!