Long time readers know that I am poorly disposed to religion (I understate). Particularly religion of the evangelizing sort. I wouldn't care if they didn't actively try to interfere in the public sphere. But they do, often in the most malignant ways. Still, when a religious organization recommends something that makes sense, especially one that isn't being recommended nearly enough, it should be recognized for what it is. A very good idea:
The Evangelical Alliance is calling on churches to prepare to set up networks of ‘flu friends’ to care for the sick in case of a swine flu pandemic, following Government guidance for faith communities.“Such ‘flu friends’ could visit the sick, collect medication and food, help with childcare and generally provide care,” said Dr Justin Thacker, the Evangelical Alliance’s Head of Theology and a former medical doctor.
“Such provision will be particularly important for those who are socially isolated or vulnerable. Specifically, churches could make it possible for vulnerable people to register with them, so that church members can provide help and support if swine flu spreads. (Inspire Magazine [UK])
This isn't something that is special to churches. People should plan to do the same thing in their workplaces and neighborhoods. We've talked a lot here about how neighbor helping neighbor will be one of the principal ways a community will weather the storm of a pandemic. We haven't heard it many other places, so this statement by The Evangelical Alliance is particularly welcome.
Of course it could be misused to evangelize. It is The Evangelical Alliance, after all. And yes, I know the Mafia does the same thing in poor neighborhoods and reaps the benefits. Still, I'm not going to get all bothered by it.
In a pandemic we'll all be in this together and this is the right thing to do and the right thing to say.
And then . . . just as I finished writing this, I surfed over to one of my favorite flu sites, Mike Coston's Avian Flu Diary, and found a link to a new site devoted precisely to the topic of "Pandemic Preparedness at the Community Level" [H2P]. As Mike notes, the site is still under construction, but it already has some good stuff. It appears to be a cooperative effort of WHO, various NGOs, including the Red Cross/Red Crescent and others.
Much of the initial material appears to be government and international planning documents. I hope it eventually has some good practical suggestions like the Alliance's "flu friends." A step in the right direction.
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It's the "following govt. advice" bit that's important. Don't let the whakkos claim credit where it's not due.
Organise because it's right, not because it's religious.
I personally do not like fundamentalists -- i grew up around them. Plus I was educated as an engineer and remember the long persecution of scientists by religion.
However, there is no denying that religion has great survival value in conditions of chaos and high psychological stress.
People should read the first chapter of Boccaccio's "Decameron" --in which he describes what happened to the social fabric in Florence circa 1392? when the Black Plague hit.
Churches do often do good works, but you know that homeless who turn up for a meal at a soup kitchen sometimes have to sit through some proselytizing. And they do go for vulnerable folks. But given the good they'd be doing, I won't get my knickers in a twist over it. A lot of churches stepped up to the plate after Katrina. I'm sure Bush preferred it that way.
Well even a stopped clock is right twice a day...
I am sure Bush would have rathered that Blanco federalize the disaster on the first day rather than waiting 3 days to figure out that it was too much for Louisiana to handle C.
Yes, a lot of churches down South do proselytize but you dont have to go beyond the TV to get that. You can get that at the water cooler too.
It is good though that this is out there and happening. But its bad if its highly infectious. With the churches its loaded with people I call it the blue haired brigade. Down south its comprised mostly of those types of older women and men that are church goers who will happily head into places that only someone with training should be headed. I have been to a pair of the church NGO training sessions to check it out, see what they had going. I think that these well meaning people will be nothing but primary vectors first and casualties second. I saw nothing that led me to believe that there would be much that was beneficial from their efforts. They might bring food, medications but thats about it. Entering a house with H5N1 for one, would be the death sentence of another.
One of these NGO sessions had a CPR session with a very nice matronly lady instructing. I asked her what she would do if the person had pneumonia from avian flu, would she still perform mouth to mouth if it got down to it? She said sure, that the person who trained her said it was not a problem. Just clear the mouth and as far back as possible.
If the response to H1N1 is what we can expect to H5N1 or a mutation cousin then I simply dont have enough food and water stored up yet.
DV-Or the clock simply stops.
It's not that religions are good in a pinch, it is that any kind of community organization capable of community service is good in a pinch.
In this case I think the Evangelicals are planning to help people who are already part of their fold, so any evangelizing would be 'preaching to the choir'.
Any church that takes care of its own leaves other organizations more resources to take care of those not part of a church, so its okay if they only stick to their flocks so long as the rest of us take up the slack for the other folk. Can't let religion become a positive selection factor in natural selection...secular groups need to step up...
Back before cities had pandemic plans I spoke to a couple of local churches about organizing a phone-buddy system for people to check on each other in the event of an H5N1 pandemic. I imagine they're remembering that information about now.
I also recently saw a catholic priest do a PSA on YouTube advising people they could get communion wafers at home if they felt ill, didn't have to come to church and expose others. Paraphrasing, it's 'okay with God.' It's a rational policy. He said it pertained not only to flu but anything else they might have that could be contagious. Nice practicality there.
I also talked to my city council, back when advocating for H5N1 preparedness, about letting churches use the city cable tv channel and the city council chambers to hold their sunday services virtually, on local tv, if there was a widespread outbreak. I don't know what became of that idea but most of the local church heads (this is a fairly small city)at least have heard it before. It's a workable option if we wind up with a severe bug in the future.
This is a case where we science folk have to make sure to give the religious folk accurate information to spread to their followers. Maybe our chance to evangelize *them*...not to challenge their faith so much but in the details to at least blunt their distrust of science (where they take engineering for granted...)
I made several presentations to various (especially innercity) congregations on this topic. The response I got was varied. First, my comment their immediate reaction that hugging everybody at the beginning of the service was a bad idea and that they might want to re-think it was not well received. Second, in several instances, their congregation was made up about half from the neighborhood (walking distance) and half from further away. Especially in a couple of cases, we spent some time discussing that, in the event of a bad flu event, they might be called upon to "minister" to their neighborhood by providing food, shelter, daycare or whatever, regardless of whether their "church neighbors" were members of their church or not. The outliers thought that they may well not be able to come to the church and would have to work with people and organizations (including churches) nearby their home. After some discussion, they (mostly) decided that this would be in keeping with the dictates of their faith, and would be the right thing to do. They also decided to consider bowing instead of hugging "when the time came." All of them thought that some sort of alternative services would be the order of the day.
I posted on this - "Pandemic planning for churches" - in 2006. It's not every consideration, but a conversation starter.
Chirp
Who would you turn to for help in a pandemic, a religous group preaching the importance of the individual to "God", or a neo-malthusian green group who looks at the majority as part of a herd with a too large carbon foot print sinning against the Earth Mother, with one of the founders (Prince Philipp) saying he hoped he could come back in the next life as a virus and wipe out 95% of the population.
Head for the church.
@ pft
Yeah, given only two choices, I'll pick the non-death cult over the death cult. By the same token, I'd rather be locked up with someone harmlessly delusional instead of sharing a cell with a psychopath.
Still, I'd rather not be in a cult, nor locked up with someone insane. And in the real world, I do have that choice.
I just posted about Pandemic Partners over at PanFluWatch. It's a sort of do it yourself version of this idea: People pair up and trade information on things like emergency contacts, pharmacy and healthcare information, dietary restrictions, etc. Then, during a pandemic they check in with each other regularly to make sure that all is well. If a person's "pandemic partner" becomes ill (or needs help for another reason), he or she is prepared with the information they need to be of assistance.
For details, read more here: http://panfluwatch.blogspot.com/2009/05/pandemic-partners-way-to-help-e…
"Can't let religion become a positive selection factor in natural selection...secular groups need to step up..."
Thanks Lisa the GP, for saying something I've been thinking about for a long time.
A) How do we prevent religion from becoming a positive factor in natural selection?
&
B) How can we organize non-believers to do good works?
These are definitely tough questions and I guess this isn't really the forum for them. Still, in the face of a pandemic or any large scale incident that leaves masses of people in need, these things are most certainly deserving of serious discussion. Again, thanks for bringing them forward.