Men of Faith

An Easter Monday musing on the topic of self-sacrifice

A scientist, a psychologist, a journalist and a priest offer their views on the topic of faith. I had binned this article idea up until Good Friday when I spent an hour in the church in sympathy with Jesus on the Cross. Here it is below, resurrected…

Dr Robert Malone, a US physician and biochemist, was among the first inventors working on mRNA technology. During the covid era, he emerged as one of the most outspoken doctors in the world speaking against the mandatory use of experimental mRNA vaccines on the grounds of public safety.

In an interview with this Substack during a visit to Ireland last August, Dr Malone put forward three key concepts for survival against the onslaught of attacks emanating from mainstream circles: “integrity, dignity and community.”

On the topic of personal faith Dr Malone gave this answer:

“I would say that my wife and I certainly believe in the existence of some spiritual transcendent deity. What that is, as scientists its nebulous - we can’t put our finger on it. But there is no question that through the last two and a half years, when there is abundant evidence that evil exists, and strange coincidences all the time bringing people together and other information - that suggests that there is something going on that’s more than just mere coincidence.”

“In places that have restored or maintained community like the communities of faith there is very little effectiveness of this propaganda effort. They don’t fall into the mass psychosis pattern. The predecessor problem is the fragmentation of society and the fragmentation of community and we have to rebuild community, treat each other with dignity and act with integrity. In other words, don’t lie.”

Belgian academic Mattias Desmet is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University in Belgium. His book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, deals with the dangers of group think as it applies to the Covid 19 phenomenon. He endures ongoing criticism and attacks for his stance, most recently his book was banned for use in his own university. In Dublin last September, Mattias and I discussed his belief in a higher power. He said he had moved through a period of atheism in his life and at the time of the interview had been reading Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography.

“I think for me the human soul is something that emerges when we speak true words. We feed our soul if we have the courage to speak out in a sincere way. That’s what I notice time and time again, if you are in company and you reveal something of yourself, you have the courage to say something knowing that it will make you vulnerable or people could take advantage of it to hurt you but still you decide to reveal your own lack as a human being. That’s the moment you start to exist as a human being,” he said. 

“My father had the habit of listening to people and then giving his opinion no matter what people thought, I also had this habit. From the beginning at university I went against the entire academic community if I needed to and they were angry with me, 90% of the people were angry with me. Just because in a quiet way I tried to show them what in my opinion, was wrong with academic research tradition. My first book was called the Pursuit of Objectivity in Psychology and it showed in my opinion how absurd most psychological research is and everybody was angry with me and still for me it was much more important to stick to reason, to stick to the fact that I believe this because I knew that was my psychological backbone, to stay true to my feeling of what is right and wrong.”

Fr Oisin Martin is an Irish Dominican friar ordained in New York in April 2020, in a near empty church, due to covid restrictions. At that ordination ceremony, Fr Oisin said he hoped to reach those who ‘don’t know that God is real, don’t know that they can experience His love and don’t know how many false forms of happiness they’ve seized upon.’ He is currently based in Moyross, Limerick with the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Fr Oisin and I attended the same secondary school in Dublin and his sister was a classmate of mine. He graduated from DCU with a degree in Business before opting to follow his faith after visiting Medjugorje, Bosnia Herzegovina.

Fr Oisin’s contribution begins with a bible quote:

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” - Hebrew 11.1.

“My life is full of uncertainty. I am a Franciscan priest living in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Ireland working with youth, young adults, addicts and whoever the Lord sends me. I have no idea how long I will be living in Limerick. I could be moved to Derry, the UK, the USA or Central America at the drop of a hat. Neither do I have any control over who I live with or how long they will be with me. We live of God’s providence with no parish or stable form of income.

“My own health, family situations and the various and unimaginable sufferings people bring to me daily; deliverance, counsel, healing, each person and their story and their needs are unique, often it is deep and intense and I’m unqualified for it all!

“Yet with the little faith I do have, God provides. He speaks through me. Heals people, guides people, frees people. All I know is God is there. He is faithful. He is in control. He speaks to us, and we can hear him, if we are open and humble. F.A.I.T.H stands for Fantastic adventure in Trusting Him! And there is nothing greater than seeing Him at work before your eyes.”

Ben Scallan is an Irish politician turned journalist who came later in life to the Catholic faith. At just 24, he is making a big impact on the Irish media landscape through his work with Gript.ie where he asks pertinent questions of politicians on topics other journalists appear unable to approach. A committed pro-life campaigner, Ben married ‘the love of his life’ last year and displays his Catholic faith as a badge of honour on his Twitter profile where he has more than 22,000 followers.

“Many years ago, I remember asking an atheist about what it means to be morally ‘right.’ He answered that it was, in a nutshell, ‘self-sacrifice’ as those who exhibit this behaviour are typically the people we think of as the greatest heroes - for example, firefighters, police officers who put themselves in harm’s way for others, soldiers who die for their comrades, and so on.

“While this was a brilliant and astute answer, you have to wonder: is it a coincidence that he regarded self-sacrifice as the highest good, and he just so happens to live in a society which, at least culturally, is based on a story about a God who gave his life for the sake of humanity? After all, while the value of this seems obvious to us, most societies would not agree with this definition of virtue at all.

“An Aztec would tell you that sacrificing thousands of enslaved prisoners to the sun God is right. A Viking would tell you that torturing someone with a Blood Eagle sacrifice to Odin is right. A Communist would tell you that killing the bourgeois capitalists to seize the means of production is right.

“Christian civilisation stands almost unique in history as a society which values and praises martyrdom. Not the so-called martyrdom of the Jihadist or Shinto Kamikaze pilot, mind you; this amounts to nothing more than a murder-suicide and the taking of innocent life. No - the true Christian martyr pours out his own life for the good of others, as Jesus Christ did on Calvary. And whether they will admit it or not, even atheists who hear this story recognise it for what it is: the only true model for heroism. They internalise it, and make it part of their world picture without even realising.

“Modern tales of superheroes are simply pale imitations of the original superhero story - that is, of a selfless God who, though immeasurably powerful, gladly made himself small and suffered everything for the sake of those weaker than himself. 

“As a man of faith, I stand in awe when I contemplate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and I thank him for teaching us what it means to truly love by his lived example.”

With thanks to all contributors for their candid answering of questions.

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