Greetings, Sorry for not sending out a newsletter last week. I only hope that you were all able to cope with your grief and disappointment. This week, I’ve got some thoughts on vaccine skepticism, tribalism, and our intellectual myths. There are basically two communities into which I am reasonably well integrated: church and academy. For each of these communities, I suspect that as often as not my membership in the other marks me as a bit odd. One of the things that I have noticed is the differences in the reaction to mask mandates and vaccination in each. By and large, the university community of which I am apart has been pretty deferential to health care experts like the CDC. The response of my church community has been more varied. On the whole, I would characterized their response as grudging and inconsistent compliance with things like mask mandates with a noticeable minority (in my congregation maybe 3 or 4 families) who dismiss masks per se and refuse to get vaccinated, despite urging from the church hierarchy. (I am guessing on the vaccination number; I can observe mask wearing each Sunday but not vaccination.)
How do you think this piece aged?