Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
History and Religion
“Black Death” Mentality On Display at Patheos Catholic

“Black Death” Mentality On Display at Patheos Catholic

Last updated on: April 7, 2020 at 11:44 pm by Dave Armstrong

“Black Death” Mentality On Display at Patheos Catholic 2020-04-07T23:44:15-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Now, I have already offered blistering critiques (two times) of the political and theological “right” and how they have exploited the present crisis to set forth goofy, wacko conspiratorial, apocalyptic theories of God’s judgment and wrath, and why He is supposedly judging etc. But there is also a need to critique what is going on, on a wide scale, on the political and theological left (or “non-conservative” observers, if you will).

I have maintained for many years (my main article on this is 18 years old) that orthodox Catholicism is neither “right” nor “left.” It transcends those categories. And theological / ecclesiological dissidents on both the right and left end up espousing the same characteristics: pick-and-choose what they like of Church teaching and authority (“cafeteria” Catholics), and arbitrarily dissent wherever they choose: making private judgment their idol rather than consistently abiding by the biblical and Catholic notion of the magisterium and an authoritative, binding Church authority (infallibility and indefectibility).

But that takes us into very deep waters. Here I merely wish to chronicle some of the more dire and gloomy predictions coming from the left and/or independent end of the spectrum, observed at Patheos Catholic, where my own blog is also hosted.

Brian Fraga (assuredly very mild and temperate, compared to other examples below) wrote on 3-25-20:

I’m reminded of his straight talk these days as we all deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which has upended our lives and created a national crisis on a scale that we arguably have not experienced as a nation since World War II. Thousands of people have been infected, hundreds are dying every day, and we’re probably still weeks, if not months, away until the worst has passed.

I don’t see how this is true (at least not so far if it is still to come). The current yearly flu epidemic in the US is far worse than coronavirus has been here (again, at least so far):

The CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 22,000 deaths, 36 million flu illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations.

The 2019-2020 influenza outbreak is moderate to low in overall severity, but hospitalization rates are high among children and young adults.

“Rates for children 0-4 years and adults 18-49 years are now the highest CDC has on record for these age groups, surpassing rates reported during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic,” the agency said.

A total of 144 influenza-associated deaths in children have been reported this season. That’s an increase of 8 since last week’s report. (“US flu death toll hits 22K, hospitalization rates high for children, young adults”: updated on 3-13-20)

By contrast, total deaths from coronavirus in the US, as of 47 minutes ago, according to Johns Hopkins University, stand at 1,046, with virtually no deaths of children and hardly anyone under 40 years old (and when they do — very rarely — occur, they are almost always associated with existing serious medical conditions). To put this into perspective, the coronavirus deaths right now are 5% of the current flu deaths. Moreover:

[A] research team led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated the global death toll from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic [swine flu] at more than 284,000, . . .

The current worldwide death toll from coronavirus is 22,184, or 8% of the figure during the swine flu epidemic 10-11 years ago. It will grow (we know not how much), but that’s what it is so far. Perhaps the most prominent and/or influential epidemiologist in the world is already greatly walking back his original projections (see below).

Mary P. wrote on 3-23-20:, about New York state alone:

[T]hree hundred ninety-two thousand are predicted to die. 342,000 of those people marked for death might be saved if the whole state remains sheltering in place and if we’re very fortunate.

Really? The current death toll in New York (unarguably the worst place in the country right now, for infection) is 366. But Mary thinks up to 392,000 may die there alone? That’s 17.67 times the number for the entire world right now. She lives in an alternate universe.

Rebecca Hamilton offers a treasure-trove of passionately stated hysteria and out-of-control rhetoric:

He [President Trump] has now made it clear that he intends to deliberately and with full knowledge of what he is doing sacrifice the lives of a minimum of around 5% of the population in order to get the economy going. . . .

Trump’s toady press is working overtime to sell Trump’s followers on accepting their own deaths at the hands of their president. (3-25-20)

The estimated US population right now is 330,488,824. 5% of that total is 16.5 million people. Rebecca would have us believe that this is the number of people President Trump (whom she calls a “monster” and “probably a psychopath”) deliberately and with full intent desires to be allowed to die in order to save our economy (it’s almost the Holocaust x 3). She, too, lives in a fantasy world of her own making. Does she not own a calculator, for heaven’s sake? But that’s not all:

[N]ow some of the so-called pro life people in the Republican Party are pushing for indirectly euthanizing elderly people for the sake of the economy. (3-24-20)

This is a complete distortion of what one person said, but it’s so self-evidently a twisting, that I refuse to waste any time showing how.

***

Meanwhile, Neil Ferguson, the scientist behind the bombshell coronavirus study that influenced Trump’s decisions and mentioned a 15-day shutdown, which stated that 500,000 Brits and 2.2 million Americans might die if strict measures were not undertaken, is now on record stating that because quarantine / social distancing measures being taken in the UK and the US (that he had recommended in his study) are working and vastly lowering the death rates, that he thinks the death toll will be less than 20,000 in England and possibly much lower. He also believes that the hospitals in the UK and intensive care units will be able to handle the virus. As of right now, total coronavirus deaths in the UK are 479.

One English article noted:

Influenza can lead to thousands of deaths a year, with the University of Oxford stating that in 2008-2009, there were 13,000 deaths in the UK alone related to the flu.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that an average of up to 500,000 people die annually across the globe due to the flu.

Since October alone, 20,000 people died from flu complications in the US, . . .

Have you also heard that Dr. Anthony Fauci, a giant in the field, is supposedly fighting with the President? Not according to his own report, as of two days ago:

“That is really unfortunate. I would wish that would stop because we have a much bigger problem here than trying to point out differences,” Fauci said. “There really fundamentally at the core … are not differences.”

Fauci said that Trump does listen to his expertise and the opinions of other officials on the task force.

“The president has listened to what I have said and what the other people on the task force have said. When I have made recommendations he has taken them,” Fauci added. “The idea of just pitting one against the other is just not helpful.”

Moreover, the Director of the World Health Organization has also praised President Trump’s response and actions with regard to the virus:

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the United Nations health agency has repeatedly called for the heads of state to lead a “whole of government” response to COVID-19 and said Trump was leading by example.

“That’s exactly what he’s doing, which we appreciate because fighting this pandemic needs political commitment,” Tedros said during an afternoon press briefing in Geneva.

Tedros said he and Trump had recently spoken and that the president is “doing all he can.”

“I believe that kind of political commitment and political leadership can bring change or can stop this pandemic,” Tedros said.

The American people agree, by a 3-to-2 margin, according to a Gallup Poll of American adults taken on 3-22-20. He received a 60% approval and 38% disapproval, concerning his actions taken to stop the spread of the virus. An Axios-Harris Poll four days earlier (also of adults: almost twice as many) showed a similar margin of approval of 56% to 44% disapproval.

This is likely driving heightened popularity of the President in general. Two polls of registered voters, from four and three days ago (Monmouth and The Hill/HarrisX) showed him having equal numbers of approval and disapproval. This has almost never happened during his presidency (I know, because I often check his approval numbers).

***

Taylor Marshall: Pachamama “Idolatry” Judged by Coronavirus (Yet “Antichrist” Pope Francis Walks the Streets of Pandemic-Ravaged Rome Free of the Virus . . .) [3-17-20]

Alexander Tschugguel, Taylor Marshall, & God’s Wrath [3-19-20]

My Outlook & Goals During This Coronavirus Crisis [3-24-20]

Explanation of Coronavirus Statistics (Dr. JD Donovan) [3-26-20]

Dialogue: [Irrational?] Leftish Reactions to Coronavirus [3-27-20]

Dialogue on Leftish Reactions to Coronavirus, Part II [3-27-20]

Why Has Italy Suffered the Most from Coronavirus? (+ Reflections on the Propriety of Using the Term, “Chinese Flu” / Condemnation of Anti-Chinese Prejudice) [3-28-20]

Reply to Unfair Criticisms of Trump Re Coronavirus [4-4-20]

Mini-Debate on Laying Blame for Lack of Knowledge of Coronavirus, and Irresponsibility (vs. Jon Curry) [Facebook, 4-5-20]

Coronavirus: Chris Ferrara vs. Science & Historical Precedent (Social Distancing Was Used in the 1918 Flu Pandemic and Has Been Shown Again and Again to be Highly Effective) [4-7-20]

Will US Coronavirus Deaths Be Far Less than Predicted? [4-7-20]

***

Photo credit: [public domain / Free SVG]

***

Political & Ethical & Moral Issues

leftism & coronavirus

Previous Post

March 26, 2020

Explanation of Coronavirus Statistics (Dr. JD Donovan)

Next Post

March 27, 2020 Dialogue: [Irrational?] Leftish Reactions to Coronavirus

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category & Last Things About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. Lewis Calvinism & General Protestantism Catholic Apologetics Catholic Apologists Catholic conversion Catholic converts Christmas Church (Ecclesiology) Church History Conversion and Converts Development of Doctrine Eastern Orthodoxy Ecumenism & Christian Unity Eucharist & Liturgy Fathers of the Church French Translations G. K. Chesterton Hell Hell & Satan Hell & Satan & Last Things Heresies & Comparative Religion Holistic Health Inquisition & Crusades & Scandals James White Jews & Judaism & Old Testament John Calvin John Henry Newman Liberal / Modernist Theology Life Issues Literary Resume Lutheranism Mariology Martin Luther Music Orthodoxy Papacy & Infallibility Personal Page Philosophy & Science Political & Ethical & Moral Issues Protestant Persecution & Intolerance Protestantism Purgatory Purgatory & Penance Romantic & Imaginative Theology Saints & Purgatory & Penance Salvation Salvation & Justification Satan & Last Things Sexuality and Gender Issues Spanish Translations Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries Traducciones al español / tradução para português Trinitarianism & Christology Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 October 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 February 2009 October 2008 September 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 October 2005 June 2005 April 2005 February 2005 July 2004 May 2004 April 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz