I think Romans 14 helps us on the matter of wearing masks, though I am not saying that those who believe we should wear masks are weak in faith.

Remember in Romans 14 the strong believed they could eat foods that were unclean according to the OT (Lev. 11 & Deut. 14), and they also believed that the sabbath and special feast days were no longer mandatory.
The weak thought one should refrain from eating food deemed unclean in the OT and also believed the sabbath and other feasts should be observed.
Paul clearly agrees with the strong theologically. No food is unclean now that the new covenant has arrived and Christ has come (Rom. 14:14, 20). The feast and sabbath days are no longer required (Rom. 14:5–6).
Still, when with the weak, they should refrain from eating unclean foods out of love for their brothers and sisters who think differently.
Notice this: the conscience of the strong gave them freedom to eat. They were convinced before God (and they were right!) that they were free to eat. It was part of their freedom in Christ!
But Paul says: your personal freedom isn’t what should determine your actions when you are with the weak. What is more important is sacrificial love, the same kind of love Christ displayed in giving his life for us.
The same principles are at stake when believers are gathered. You may believe masks are worthless and even a government imposition.
My point in this post isn’t to adjudicate the issue of wearing masks. Let’s stipulate, for the sake of argument, that those who say masks don’t do any good are correct (remember this is just for the sake of argument—I am not getting into whether the masks are helpful or not).
Even if the masks don’t help, some believers think they are necessary. They feel that is safer to wear masks. They believe masks protect them from the virus.
Even if you disagree, you should wear the mask out of love for your brother and sister. Paul teaches we are to sacrifice our freedom for the sake of others, to show love for others.
What if you say, but not wearing a mask is a matter of conscience and conviction? But the strong in Romans 14 had the conviction that they were free to eat unclean food. The freedom to eat was a matter of conscience.
Paul says, when you are with the weak, don’t live by your conscience, but theirs! Love them by wearing the mask, even if you think it is silly and stupid.
And notice what else Paul says to the strong (Rom. 14:3). Don’t mock or ridicule the weak. Don’t make fun of those who are more conservative than you are. We love our brothers and sisters by doing what they desire in a situation like this.
The way of the cross, the way of love, is to wear a mask if others want us to do so. And if that’s the hardest sacrifice, we have to make for our brothers and sisters, well it isn’t very hard!

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Two things can be true at once:
1. There is an issue with hostility some academics have faced on some issues
2. Another academic who himself uses threats of legal action to bully colleagues into silence is not a good faith champion of the free speech cause


I have kept quiet about Matthew's recent outpourings on here but as my estwhile co-author has now seen fit to portray me as an enabler of oppression I think I have a right to reply. So I will.

I consider Matthew to be a colleague and a friend, and we had a longstanding agreement not to engage in disputes on twitter. I disagree with much in the article @UOzkirimli wrote on his research in @openDemocracy but I strongly support his right to express such critical views

I therefore find it outrageous that Matthew saw fit to bully @openDemocracy with legal threats, seeking it seems to stifle criticism of his own work. Such behaviour is simply wrong, and completely inconsistent with an academic commitment to free speech.

I am not embroiling myself in the various other cases Matt lists because, unlike him, I think attention to the detail matters and I don't have time to research each of these cases in detail.
Brief thread to debunk the repeated claims we hear about transmission not happening 'within school walls', infection in school children being 'a reflection of infection from the community', and 'primary school children less likely to get infected and contribute to transmission'.

I've heard a lot of scientists claim these three - including most recently the chief advisor to the CDC, where the claim that most transmission doesn't happen within the walls of schools. There is strong evidence to rebut this claim. Let's look at


Let's look at the trends of infection in different age groups in England first- as reported by the ONS. Being a random survey of infection in the community, this doesn't suffer from the biases of symptom-based testing, particularly important in children who are often asymptomatic

A few things to note:
1. The infection rates among primary & secondary school children closely follow school openings, closures & levels of attendance. E.g. We see a dip in infections following Oct half-term, followed by a rise after school reopening.


We see steep drops in both primary & secondary school groups after end of term (18th December), but these drops plateau out in primary school children, where attendance has been >20% after re-opening in January (by contrast with 2ndary schools where this is ~5%).

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