In Galatians, after an extended meditation on liberation, Paul says: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. Personal choice then cannot be our only way of assessing whether something is ethical or just in a society.Ĭhristian ethics call people to ideas of freedom that are not primarily understood as the absence of restraint, but instead as the ability to live well, justly and righteously. The truth is that our personal choices, particularly those that are difficult and cost us something, are often not merely rooted in what we think is right for us, but in what we think is just and good in an absolute sense.
But as we look at the pandemic, it’s evident how insufficient “personal choice” is in promoting the common good. As it developed historically and spread, it has spurred essential social reforms like women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery.
Obviously, there’s merit in this notion of freedom. In a 2014 essay for The New Republic, Mark Lilla wrote that the dogma that unites Americans from right to left, unifying “civil liberties absolutists, human rights crusaders, neoliberal growth evangelists, rogue hackers, gun fanatics, porn manufacturers, and Chicago School economists” is this: “give individuals maximum freedom in every aspect of their lives and all will be well.” suggests there have been many preventable deaths.Īmericans deeply value this freedom.
That’s your choice.” Those I know who have refused to get vaccinated or wear masks have echoed this same idea.
If you don’t? Great.” She continued: “Choice is where we stand. At a protest against vaccine mandates, a hospital worker told New York’s Livingston County newspaper: “If you want it? Great.