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Why the drama, pastor?

Oh, stop it now, Pastor Wilson. Because we are a free people, the government and its police force can’t tell us what to wear? If I were to present myself, naked, at the doors of Christ Church, seeking to participate in the worship service, I suspect you would rebuff me. And if I were to persist, I expect that you would call the cops. Because in this country, the government cops do tell the “free” people what body parts they will cover.

Which leaves me wondering, what is the design behind your outwardly silly-seeming theatrical behavior against a mandate to wear facial coverings during a global infection that is transmitted by droplets/aerosols? Is it to keep your flock together, by identifying with the early, persecuted church? Are the cohesive factors so weak that the public drama is needed?

There are actual laws on the books requiring us to cover the nether regions. Perhaps for some public health benefit, but also to appease your religiosity-based prurience — a form of Sharia law, in effect. Which is it, preacher-man? Can the government tell us what to wear, or not?

Recent evidence shows that wearing masks increases the percentage of asymptomatic cases among the infected. In meat packing plants, where mask wearing is strictly enforced on every single person, 95 percent of infected persons are asymptomatic. In the slums of Mumbai, India, people are living on top of one another and sanitary conditions are poor. They are infected, but the bodies are not piling up. Dense air pollution has forced everyone — all casts — to wrap their head in fabric; to mask up. Cloth face coverings are saving them. This is an easier way to herd immunity. This allows immediate opening of schools, businesses, and travel.

Wiley Hollingsworth
Pullman

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