Daniel Darling Fired from NRB After Pro-Vaccine Remarks
“The ministry’s former spokesman had appeared in national media explaining why he as a Christian trusts the COVID-19 vaccine.” - C.Today
Related at National Review: Here’s What Got Evangelical Pastor Dan Darling Fired
C.Post: NRB fires spokesman Dan Darling for violating vaccine-neutral policy: ‘Sad and disappointed’
RNS: NRB spokesman Dan Darling fired after pro-vaccine statements on ‘Morning Joe’
- 5 views
Dan Darling is a gentle man of God who advocates for godly conversation and a biblical regard for one another as fellow image-bearers. He has written excellent books on online conversation and how we can better reflect Christ in them. In his conversations with others, he lives that out.
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Dan Darling lives out what he says, but evidently the board of the NRB does not. Nearly a month after Dan spoke, they have decided that Dan, for being respectful in stating an opinion that differs from the radical conspiracy theorists who seem to control religious broadcasting and evidently, the Board of Directors of the NRB, is unfit for employment there.
They have fired Dan WITHOUT SEVERANCE (he has a family) for expressing his views respectfully and not kowtowing broadcasters who loudly spout anti-vaxx theories and sow division in the church.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I am pro-vaccine, but unfortunately he violated the companies rules. Rules that he knew about. Companies are private and can have their own viewpoints and rules, and as an employee and in exchange for compensation you are required to follow them.
What is disappointing is that the CEO had publicly expressed his view on the success of the vaccines, which would appear to also violate the companies stance. So there seems to be some inconsistency here.
Loosing a severance for not signing a document like what was indicated above is not uncommon.
Agreed that he violated “policy”, but reality is NRB needs to step back and ask themselves what their policy is doing. In my view, what it’s doing is giving carte blanche to the “nonsense” artists (I’m thinking a blunter term, to be honest) to have the rule of the roost in spreading lies about everything going on here.
I’ve been seeing a lot of crazy arguments lately, and as far as I can tell, it’s getting people killed. So we ought to support factual arguments here, not punish them.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
If he’s a pastor, he’s still receiving a paycheck from his church.
should not put you on the hot seat. The only reason the NRB has a neutral position on the COVID vaccine is due to the turbulent times we live in where people are putting too much value behind sources of information of no value.
According to the AMA 96% of physicians in the US are fully vaccinated against COVID.
“Reflecting this somewhat unsettled period in the Theological School’s history, Kuyper’s first visit was occasioned by a conflict between the Theological School and the police regarding the imposition of smallpox vaccinations upon all Dutch schools. The first generation of Afgescheidenen was strongly opposed to vaccinating their children, which they saw as an act of unbelief in God’s providence, although by 1871, the second generation of Seceders had begun to embrace preventive medicine. In this context, Kuyper had already taken a publicly provaccination stance since 1865, and he addressed the Theological School as one who advocated both religious freedom and modern medicine, while also encouraging the Seceders to reject the imposition.”
From Chapter 4 of by Bavinck - A Critical Biography by James Eglinton
[Mark_Smith]According to the AMA 96% of physicians in the US are fully vaccinated against COVID.
Yeah, that reflects my experience with peers.
- Most of us got the vaccine as soon as we could.
- I had COVID in Nov, so when I was offered the vaccine in Dec, I didn’t bother (actually didn’t want to take doses from those who needed it more than I did). I probably still would not have gotten it except that I had persistent loss of smell 4 months after and I read that many people who had long term loss of smell saw it return after the vaccine, which it did for me.
- I know a couple docs who are refusing the vaccine.
- I know MANY who believe that while they recommend the vaccine, it should NOT be required, nor should it become a public matter as to whether they did or didn’t.
[Dan Miller]
- I know MANY who believe that while they recommend the vaccine, it should NOT be required, nor should it become a public matter as to whether they did or didn’t.
I am not necessarily making a point of whether it should or should not be required. With that said, the relatively small percentage of historical anti-vax individuals (in the last 30-40 years) have had a relatively easy approach because we have not had pandemics that are impacted by a vaccine. We have people refusing vaccines that are associated with rubella, smallpox….. which today are rare diseases. While vaccines are important to make them continue to be rare, it has made it an easy discussion for doctors because, if the chance occurs where you are are faced with someone who does not want the smallpox vaccine the risk is very low.
We could move into a scenario where the risk of the pandemic is high and the risk of death is very high. If COVID had a death rate of 50% for those who contract the disease and it spreads easily, the discussion would be very different. The anti-vax crowd has historically had an easy ride as they have relied on the relative safety afforded them from the vaccination population. In addition, doctors have had a historically easy ride because the number of anti-vax (pre-COVID) has been relatively small and the risk has been very low, which has not required hard discussions.
COVID risk to healthy people is considerably higher than the risk afforded smallpox today. The next pandemic may hit sooner and it may even be considerably higher than COVID in terms of risk and so these “harder” discussions may need to take place.
I remember asking a man about 20 years older than I about what he thought about people who were against vaccination, and he shot me a perplexed glance and said “don’t they remember polio?” A lot of resistance to vaccines has to do with the relative risks that we faced then vs. now—OK, then vs. “before the ‘rona”.
Another big part of it—and I write as a guy who’s read a lot of materials from doctors recommending vaccination—a lot of the problem is also that for whatever reasons, the NIH/CDC and others have gotten out of the habit of actually presenting the data, favoring a cartoon version (yes) of appeal to authority.
And without citing the data and presenting it, that left the door wide open for those who will present all kinds of nonsense with no crisis of conscience.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[dgszweda]If COVID had a death rate of 50% for those who contract the disease and it spreads easily, the discussion would be very different.
I definitely agree with Dan’s last observation from many physicians that the vaccine should not be required and one’s vaccination history should not become public.
And I’d say you are absolutely right about the Covid death rate. As I see it, the resistance, such as it is, is coming from a confluence of several factors:
- The prevarication among our political and health leaders about the source and danger of the virus, as well as about mask use, politicization of the naming of the virus, etc.
- Discussions from leaders and media about absolutely refusing any vaccine developed under Trump, and then miraculously thinking it’s great with Biden in office.
- The fact that the death rate is nowhere near 50%, and that most of the around 1.7% death rate that is known/seen is coming from people with high or very high risk factors, not to mention not taking into account the suspected large numbers of unreported Covid cases.
- The fact that much of the population is wigging out and going all fascist about requiring vaccinations or suggesting very large restrictions on people who are unvaccinated, and declaring that they are “killing people.”
If the fatality rate for Covid were 50% (or even 30-40% like MERS, or even ~11% like SARS), I suspect there would be little resistance at all, except from the true anti-vaxxers, and I still think they are too small in number to matter.
Dave Barnhart
[dcbii]If the fatality rate for Covid were 50% (or even 30-40% like MERS, or even ~11% like SARS), I suspect there would be little resistance at all, except from the true anti-vaxxers, and I still think they are too small in number to matter.
The difference between something like MERS and COVID, is that there were only two confirmed cases of MERS ever in the US. There are 40 Million confirmed cases in the US and almost 700,000 deaths. The fatality rate is only one indicator. How quick it spreads, complications…. also impact the concern. I think at the end of the day, even among the liberal elite, the biggest concern is overwhelming the hospital systems and the unneeded dying of vulnerable patients. While the death rate maybe ~1.7% if it was your grandparents, that number might be meaningless.
In the end, where we have gotten to in this country is less about anti-vaxxers and really people more concerned with individual liberty than liberty as a whole. Misinformation is played with for ratings and attention as well as to support a belief and less about the real facts. I doubt the resistance would go away. We have entered this weird stage in American history, where people will die from COVID concerned about the safety of a tested substance, because Hannity raised a concern in contrast with those running to the store and buying horse dewormer because Tucker Carlson said it was a cure. The insanity that we have gotten too is amazing, especially given the excellent data that we have available to ourselves at our fingertips compared to any other time in history.
Poilo has been eradicated since 1979 in the US. With no cases or death in the US for over 40 years. The percentage of children vaccinated by the age of 2 in the US is 92.6%. The polio vaccine is a required vaccine for children to take prior to enrolling in a school (except for certain exemptions). How did we go so bonkers with COVID?
[dgszweda]Actually, the FDA says it’s a cure as well, only not for covid. Ivermectin tablets are approved by the FDA to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. Also, some topical forms of ivermectin are approved to treat external parasites like head lice. So it’s really not just a horse dewormer. It’s also used in humans, and this wouldn’t be the first time a drug has had off label uses. Some studies have shown promise of ivermectin also being an antiviral drug as well as being antiparasitic.in contrast with those running to the store and buying horse dewormer because Tucker Carlson said it was a cure.
[Kevin Miller]Actually, the FDA says it’s a cure as well, only not for covid. Ivermectin tablets are approved by the FDA to treat people with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. Also, some topical forms of ivermectin are approved to treat external parasites like head lice. So it’s really not just a horse dewormer. It’s also used in humans, and this wouldn’t be the first time a drug has had off label uses. Some studies have shown promise of ivermectin also being an antiviral drug as well as being antiparasitic.
Well that is the key. It is not a cure for COVID. I realize it is used to treat some conditions within humans. The problem is that some people are actually buying the drug from their feed store and taking wrong doses of it. As always, a doctor can prescribe off label. At this time, there are no studies that show that this has any effect on COVID in humans.
What blows my mind is that we have a vaccine from numerous companies, who have spent billions developing and distributing. It has passed extensive clinical trials across many different health agencies (EMEA, FDA…) and has been distributed over a billion doses. The vaccine has been shown to be effective against COVID in hospitalizations and deaths. People are ignoring that because they don’t trust the science, government, you name it….., but some media personalities push for Ivermectin with no human studies having been done and people are rushing to it. The lunacy of the public is mind boggling. The FDA has to issue warnings as hospitalizations from Ivermectin poisioning has increased. The one study that was touting improvements was withdrawn over plagairism and false data (of which no one seems concerned about in the conservative media, because real cheating isn’t bad, just perceived cheating that fits their narrative is bad).
Why we keep chasing after some type of drug when we refuse to accept a vaccine is mind blowing. But such is the intelligence of modern society.
I’ve been trying to some writing on the topic of the universal problem of human stupidity (a whole of it from experience of my own!)… but the topic keeps growing while I’m trying to settle on some piece of it to write about. One of the things that fascinates me is all the ways stupid happens.
- fatigue
- hurry/urgency
- distraction
- emotions: anger/fear/thrill/anticipation/desire
- laziness
- overwhelming complexity
- distrust
- prior commitments/being vested in a belief
- sense of identity/tribe
- sense of personal identity
- of course, ignorance (willing, intentional, and unavoidable species)
These overlap a good bit as categories and, of course, can coexist.
The list grows and grows.
It’s only because of common grace that we humans haven’t completely self-destructed long before now!
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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