Measles and Stumbling Blocks

 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 

   He called a child, whom he put among them, 

  and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, 

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 

 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  

Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. 
Matthew 18:1-6 

 As a boy, in the early 1960s, I contracted what was called Red Measles at the time, which made children much sicker than German Measles. Actually the two are different viruses and the global outbreak of measles we are hearing about is Rubeola -- Red Measles. I was young but I recall being sequestered in my room with the lights off and blinds down because of the possible effects on my eyesight. It was summer and children from the church Vacation Bible School played in our expansive yard. I peered out from behind the blind, even though this was forbidden. I was diagnosed with myopia a year or so later and it may have been related to the severity of my measles, an illness which can be fatal.

Fortunately a vaccine was developed and measles, one of the most infectious illnesses, was all but eradicated in Canada. Now it's back and religion can take a portion of the blame. There are all sorts of goofy, ill-informed reasons that some parents are "anti-vaxxers". They refuse to have their vulnerable children vaccinated and the internet has been instrumental in fear-mongering and misinformation. For some reason fundamentalists in Christianity and Judaism are inclined to buy into this nonsense and the benefits of what is sometimes called "herd immunization" is being undermined. 




Anti-vaccine Poster in New York

In New York some ultra-Orthodox Jews have been convinced that monkey, rat and pig DNA is being used to create the vaccine, which is untrue. The result has been a serious outbreak of measles with hundreds of children contracting the illness. 

This all makes me really angry. I suppose that parents ignorantly subjecting their children to serious illness is part of it. That religion is contributing to this infuriates me. There is a selfishness here, and a willful resistance to the best interests of all that is contrary to our Judeo-Christian tradition. Jesus doesn't want us to be stumbling blocks to the physical and spiritual well-being of children, end of story.