Christmas dinner – avoiding religion, politics and now 'science'

Julie Reeder

Publisher

Christmas is a special time in our culture when we connect as a family and friends. We spread love and good cheer and catch up on each other's lives. We give gifts to each other after the model of Christ's birth and the gift of salvation to everyone.

But family has always been complicated. Everyone has their own individual beliefs. Last year, Christmas was pretty much canceled due to COVID-19 and this year, with the emergence of the omicron variant, we are being urged to be very careful.

If we were in Florida, we wouldn't have any restrictions and we would probably be fine.

So this year, if your family is like ours, a mix of pro-vaccine, pro-mask, anti-mask, pro-choice-vaccine and anti-mandate, you have to find a way to have honest discussions about those things that are important, without pushing anyone’s buttons. If you can’t do that, it might be better to not discuss these things at the dinner table at all.

We joke about people coming to dinner with political shirts saying things like "Unvaccinated and ready to talk politics" or "You can't comply your way out of tyranny!"

But honestly, we just have to love each other and continue to respect each other's opinions just like we have to do with two other very important topics: religion and politics. The challenge with this vaccine mandate topic is that it is politics, health and religion combined. It's like the perfect storm.

This year "trust the science" seems like it’s more of a religion or a cult, but definitely political.

We have been asked to trust something that affects our personal health, our family, our children's health and our civil liberties. Pfizer doesn't want to tell us what the ingredients of the jab are for 75 years. If we research online about COVID vaccines, it's censored. Doctors and scientists are censored.

It's crucial to think critically and be skeptical. It is the right thing for an intelligent responsible person to do. It is the burden of a free person. Citizens of authoritarian led countries don't have the right or the opportunity.

But we don't need to discuss it at Christmas dinner.

If people want to share or are interested in what we've learned or found, we can talk at a different time than the holiday.

That's been our solution, and it works, so if your family is struggling too, consider not talking about it at the dinner table. Save the discussions on hot button issues for a more opportune time.

Merry Christmas!