[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Utopian Visionaries Who Won’t Leave People Alone

No - no - no Ain'T going To get away with iT

Pete Buttplug's Butt Plugger Trying to Turn Kids into Faggots

Mark Levin: I'm sick and tired of these attacks

Questioning the Big Bang

James Webb Data Contradicts the Big Bang

Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began

A fine romance: how humans and chimps just couldn't let go

Early humans had sex with chimps

O’Keefe dons bulletproof vest to extract undercover journalist from NGO camp.

Biblical Contradictions (Alleged)

Catholic Church Praising Lucifer

Raising the Knife

One Of The HARDEST Videos I Had To Make..

Houthi rebels' attack severely damages a Belize-flagged ship in key strait leading to the Red Sea (British Ship)

Chinese Illegal Alien. I'm here for the moneuy

Red Tides Plague Gulf Beaches

Tucker Carlson calls out Nikki Haley, Ben Shapiro, and every other person calling for war:

{Are there 7 Deadly Sins?} I’ve heard people refer to the “7 Deadly Sins,” but I haven’t been able to find that sort of list in Scripture.

Abomination of Desolation | THEORY, BIBLE STUDY

Bible Help

Libertysflame Database Updated

Crush EVERYONE with the Alien Gambit!

Vladimir Putin tells Tucker Carlson US should stop arming Ukraine to end war

Putin hints Moscow and Washington in back-channel talks in revealing Tucker Carlson interview

Trump accuses Fulton County DA Fani Willis of lying in court response to Roman's motion

Mandatory anti-white racism at Disney.

Iceland Volcano Erupts For Third Time In 2 Months, State Of Emergency Declared

Tucker Carlson Interview with Vladamir Putin

How will Ar Mageddon / WW III End?

What on EARTH is going on in Acts 16:11? New Discovery!

2023 Hottest in over 120 Million Years

2024 and beyond in prophecy

Questions

This Speech Just Broke the Internet

This AMAZING Math Formula Will Teach You About God!

The GOSPEL of the ALIENS | Fallen Angels | Giants | Anunnaki

The IMAGE of the BEAST Revealed (REV 13) - WARNING: Not for Everyone

WEF Calls for AI to Replace Voters: ‘Why Do We Need Elections?’

The OCCULT Burger king EXPOSED

PANERA BREAD Antichrist message EXPOSED

The OCCULT Cheesecake Factory EXPOSED

Satanist And Witches Encounter The Cross

History and Beliefs of the Waldensians

Rome’s Persecution of the Bible

Evolutionists, You’ve Been Caught Lying About Fossils

Raw Streets of NYC Migrant Crisis that they don't show on Tv

Meet DarkBERT - AI Model Trained On DARK WEB

[NEW!] Jaw-dropping 666 Discovery Utterly Proves the King James Bible is God's Preserved Word

ALERT!!! THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION WILL SOON BE POSTED HERE


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Religion
See other Religion Articles

Title: In many COVID hot spots, a pattern: High concentrations of white evangelicals
Source: religionnews.com
URL Source: https://religionnews.com/2021/07/15 ... rations-of-white-evangelicals/
Published: Jul 15, 2021
Author: Jack Jenkins
Post Date: 2021-07-22 02:52:11 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 3794
Comments: 34

In many COVID hot spots, a pattern:
High concentrations of white evangelicals

By Jack Jenkins

‘It’s clear that the pattern is more white evangelical Protestants equals lower vaccination rates,’ said Natalie Jackson, research director at the Public Religion Research Institute.

As COVID-19 cases surge again, two things are true about many counties considered hot spots: Vaccination rates are low and white evangelical Protestant populations are high, according to a new data analysis.

Concern about vaccine hesitancy or outright anti-vaccine sentiment among white evangelicals has persisted since at least March, when, according to a poll from Pew Research Center, those who said they were Christian and born-again were far more likely than any other religious group to say they definitely or probably would not get a vaccine.

A full 45% of white evangelicals fit this description. The next-closest religious classification (Americans who list their religious affiliation as “nothing in particular”) was a full 9 points lower at 36%, which was also the national average.

A separate poll, conducted in April by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core, reported that white evangelicals also have the highest rate of vaccine “refusers” (26%) — people who firmly state they will not get vaccinated — compared with other religious groups.

An association between low vaccination rates and evangelical faith was further confirmed this week by researchers at PRRI. In data provided to RNS, analysts pulled from the group’s “2020 Census of American Religion,” overlaying county-level data about faith on top of vaccination rates compiled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In May, the White House cautioned against any attempt to “typecast” faith groups, but federal officials such as Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, have repeatedly named faith leaders as potential vaccine ambassadors.

Speaking during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” over the weekend, Fauci said the White House is encouraging nongovernment “trusted messengers” to champion the vaccine — including local clergy.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, himself an evangelical Christian, pleaded with his fellow faithful last month to get vaccinated. Overwhelming evidence, he said, indicates COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. not only dramatically reduce the likelihood of contracting the disease, but lessen the chance of hospitalization and death.

“We need everybody to line up behind this goal, recognizing this isn’t about pleasing Joe Biden, because a lot of evangelicals are not that interested in pleasing Joe Biden,” he said. “This is about saving lives.”

Some evangelical leaders have also launched efforts to combat vaccine skepticism in their congregations. Russell Moore, a former Southern Baptist Convention official, told Religion News Service: “Evangelical Christians should be leading the way in thanking God for the cure we spent a year praying for. The least we can do is get our shots so that we can carry on our mission in our communities, without fear of getting anyone sick. Our gospel witness should be contagious; we shouldn’t be.”

Despite efforts to promote the vaccine, new data suggests white evangelicals make up a higher share of the population in counties where vaccination rates are low. This is particularly true in portions of the Southeast and rural Midwest such as Missouri, where scientists have detected surges in COVID-19 cases linked to the more transmissible delta variant of the virus.

The congregation of James River Church in Joplin, Mo., participates in a praise hymn. Photo by Joshua Sorenson/Unsplash/Creative Commons In this 2018 photo, the congregation of James River Church in Joplin, Missouri, participates in a praise hymn. Photo by Joshua Sorenson/Unsplash/Creative Commons

PRRI’s researchers found the population of white evangelicals to be especially high in Missouri counties where COVID-19 vaccination rates for people age 12 or older were 20% or lower. There, members of the faith group make up 49% of the population on average. In counties with vaccination rates between 20% and 40%, white evangelicals constitute 42% of the populace.

In counties where vaccination rates ranged from 40% to 60%, white evangelicals’ share of the population plummeted to 30%.

“It’s clear that the pattern is more white evangelical Protestants equals lower vaccination rates,” said Natalie Jackson, PRRI’s research director.

The data matches local surveys conducted by the Missouri Hospital Association. When the group released data in April, the only faith group it singled out was white evangelicals, indicating 38% were vaccine hesitant. Experts believe the sentiment can have dire consequences: According to a recent analysis from The Washington Post, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 — as well as case rates overall — are strongly correlated with low vaccination rates.

Missouri hospitals have been overrun with a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, with hospitals requesting extra ventilators and bringing in traveling nurses to handle the caseload. As ICU units swell, Steve Edwards, CEO of Missouri-based hospital system CoxHealth, has pleaded with locals to get vaccinated.

“Begging people to take the vaccine while there is still time,” he tweeted Friday (July 9). “If you could see the exhaustion in the eyes of our nurses who keep zipping up body bags, we beg you.”

Similarly, Moore told RNS he has spoken with evangelical doctors “discouraged to the point of exhaustion by the low rates of vaccination among sectors of our fellow Christians,” despite pleading for people to get vaccinated.

The explosion of cases has already bled into nearby Arkansas, where low vaccination rates also track with high average white evangelical populations. In the one county with a vaccination rate under 20%, white evangelicals make up 47% of the population. For counties in the 20% to 40% range, white evangelicals average 46%, but that dips to 35% in counties with vaccination rates between 40% and 60%.

The pattern may be set to repeat in Tennessee, one of several states that have seen a sharp uptick in cases over the last week. In counties with vaccination rates at 20% or lower, PRRI’s analysis found that white evangelicals make up 50% of the population on average. Roughly the same was true for counties in the 20% to 40% vaccination range, where evangelicals make up 51% of the population. But in counties with 40% to 60% vaccination rates, the number shrinks to just 43%.

In Florida — which has seen the greatest percentage increase in COVID-19 cases over the past week, according to The Washington Post — vaccination rates overall have been higher than in other parts of the Southeast, with none below 20%. But white evangelicals remain best represented in the lowest tier: In counties with 20% to 40% of eligible people vaccinated, white evangelicals make up 36% of the population on average.

In the 40% to 60% range, white evangelicals make up 20% of the counties’ populations. In the 60% or above range, they constitute just 13% of the population on average.

The pattern is less pronounced in northern states. Take Maine, where white evangelicals are less represented and COVID-19 vaccination rates are high; none of its counties report vaccination rates under 40%. Of those counties in the 40% to 60% range for vaccination rates, white evangelicals make up 22% of the population on average. Of those above 60%, evangelicals constitute around 19%.

White evangelicals are hardly the only holdouts against COVID-19 vaccination. Other faith groups such as Black Protestants, Hispanic Protestants and white mainline Protestants have also expressed various degrees of vaccine hesitancy or anti-vaccine sentiment when polled. In addition, White House officials are targeting new vaccination efforts at younger Americans, who exhibit lower vaccination rates compared with their elders.

There may also be overlapping issues: In Missouri, counties with spiking COVID-19 cases skew rural, where health care access is often more limited.

But for many, religion’s role is undeniable. CoxHealth released a video last month of a hospitalized COVID-19 patient named Russell Taylor. Speaking to an offscreen interviewer, Taylor explains he did not get vaccinated because he was “skeptical,” adding that his stance on contracting COVID-19 amounted to “Well, if God allows it, it must be.”

Taylor, wearing a hospital gown and speaking between labored breaths, goes on to outline how he contracted the virus that attacked his lungs and left him bedridden for weeks. He insists he now supports vaccination for himself and his entire family — a position that he, again, roots in his faith.

“My stance on that is: God made medicine too,” he says.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: Gatlin (#0)

COVID hot spots, a pattern: High concentrations of white evangelicals

More propaganda from CDC shill Gatlin.

More Carol Baker style attacks on whites and Christians.

Fake "Christian" leaders are joining in...

Russell Moore, a former Southern Baptist Convention official, told Religion News Service: “Evangelical Christians should be leading the way in thanking God for the cure we spent a year praying for. The least we can do is get our shots

A genuine Christian does not advise others to take unknown and untested substances. Russell is probably a crypto-freemason. The Southern Baptist Convention is absolutely rotten with these demons.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, himself an evangelical Christian

Collins is a creepy gay milquetoast...nothing more to say.

hospitals have been overrun with a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, with hospitals requesting extra ventilators

Phony fake news. Ventilators are in landfills...

http://">www.local10.com/news/local/2021/04/19/why-are-new- ventilators- being-trashed-in-a-miami-dade-landfill/

Here's what this article really signifies:

And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or on their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Rev. 20:4

The globalists, along with white Christian hating Jews like CDC Carol Baker, and lucifer worshipping freemasons who have crept unawares into the Church (Franklin Graham, SBC leaders, ect) are laying the ground work for the justification of "getting rid" of Christians.

And so are you, Gatlin.

watchman  posted on  2021-07-22   14:17:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: watchman, and Everyone (#1)

How a Christian epidemiologist works to
sway white evangelicals on COVID and vaccines

By ByXavier Lopez

How do you talk to people who don’t trust you?

Lots of public health officials have struggled with this question over the past year as they’ve tried to reach people who don’t think they should be vaccinated, or who don’t even believe the coronavirus pandemic is that big of a deal to begin with.

One group that public health officials have had particular trouble reaching has been white evangelical Christians. A recent poll found that among white evangelicals, 45% said they would not get vaccinated.

Emily Smith, an epidemiologist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, says it’s imperative that this population gets vaccinated.

“The white evangelical group is a good proportion of the U.S. population. We have some work to do to get the message out, to get more of them … to reach herd immunity.”

Smith’s approach to epidemiology and public health messaging is a little different than most. She’s a woman of science and religion. She doesn’t see those two fields as that different.

“I’m also in the buckle of the Bible Belt here in Texas, married to a Baptist pastor,” Smith said. “I got into epidemiology because I see it as a story of the Good Samaritan, of quantifying who is most in need for any disease or health disparity and choosing not to walk by.”

She started breaking down scientific information for people early on in the pandemic, through her blog and Facebook page, Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist.

“I really try to keep the friendly, the neighborly part,” she said. “You know, if I could talk with people in real life, I would probably have you at my kitchen table with cookies. That’s just my personality.”

Smith gets millions of visitors every month across platforms, a lot of them white evangelical Christians. Early on, she would answer questions such as “Can we go to church?” “Can we have a BBQ?” or “Should we wear masks?”

“At the very beginning … all of us had this sense of solidarity,” she said. “Flattening the curve, protect[ing] our neighbors, protect[ing] our health care workers, including in the church space.”

A politicized pandemic

But over time, the rhetoric changed, she said. There was a split between faith and science.

“The split happened because of the political ideologies that happened in 2020. And I get in trouble every time I talk about this because some will say, ‘Don’t bring politics into it,’ but you have to bring politics into it to see where the rhetoric happened.”

The more politicized the pandemic became, the more misinformation and disinformation Smith had to fight. She had to start debunking anti- science sentiments: people calling the virus a hoax, saying that masking was a sign of fear, that the vaccine was a “mark of the beast” or that it would ruin our immune systems.

“Those were only coming from faith spaces, and at the beginning it was far-right spaces,” Smith said. “Those have become a little bit more mainstream now. It all became this one messy thread of faith over fear. And I’m really trying to do my educational work to let [white evangelicals] see that the same people who were saying, `faith over fear,’ those groups have really infused this ‘global domination,’ ‘mark of the beast,’ ‘vaccines are going to ruin our immune system over time’ [rhetoric].”

Ways to Listen

She said it’s hard to get people to recognize this — and to recognize that sometimes there are some contradictions with these talking points.

“You know, they’re good people sharing really awful anti-science stuff, thinking that it’s truth. So there’s a lot of work to debunk what they don’t know that they’re actually reading right now.”

Smith finds the whole “mark of the beast” comparison especially worrying. You may have heard it before: It’s a biblical reference that has become wrapped up in conspiracy theories.

“The mark of the beast, from a Christian faith perspective, is something in Revelations,” Smith said. “It is supposed to be a mark in the end times. And the Christian space has heard theories on what the mark of the beast is for decades and decades and decades. … The latest one is a conspiracy theory about the vaccines or masks being mark of the beast. And it is just, it’s a warped way of viewing something that’s actually lifesaving as a mark towards something that is anti-Christian or anti- faith.”

Smith said, in terms of vaccine attitudes, it’s a spectrum: Some people don’t buy into these hoaxes and are just trying to wait and see. Maybe they’re a little nervous about the vaccine, and the seemingly new technology that allowed for their quick development.

But overall, she said, anti-vaccine sentiments are growing in this group, and it is something we should all be worried about.

“What is happening, though, is that a lot of the anti-science, anti-vax groups are now infusing this new vaccine hesitancy group in really sneaky ways.”

The message

Smith said the key in getting the right information to this group may lie in not only the message, but the messenger. And as the wife of a minister, as well as a Christian, and a scientist herself, she hopes that she might be more trusted among this group.

“I do think that that helps let people know that I’m just a real person,” she said. “I’ve got two children. I understand the church world from an evangelical perspective. I do think that that helps build some trust that … when I talk about science and wearing a mask and love for [my] neighbor, I don’t have a propaganda, or an agenda that is anti- faith.”

She said faith and science can be informed, and that trying to get people to recognize how they can both work with each other during the pandemic has helped. That it has helped people trust what she is saying and where she is coming from.

But she said an important factor in the success of her work has to do with tailoring her message — something that she said she does naturally. Take, for example, how she talks to other moms:

“When we were talking about schools, I talked about what I would do with my children. ‘What about playing with friends on the playground?’ Here’s what I’m doing with my kids, and really, that’s what I was telling my friends. I just wrote it down in a post.”

Smith said she’s gotten some pushback for this work. On Facebook, you might see the usual mean-ish comments, such as, “Why is it your business if I’m wearing a mask?”

But the comments get way worse sometimes, she said, such as when she writes about things like health disparities. She’s even gotten some death threats.

“That is new for me. I mean, I’m a scientist pastor’s wife. You know, you’re not really trained to figure out how to deal with that,” she said. “Those are very scary. And, you know, just some really nasty stuff about blaming immigrants, racial disparities, when I write on that, there’s always threats and messages that come. And I’m a mom, that’s scary for my kids.”

Although she gets those online threats, Smith said she’s still committed to doing this work.

“I just feel such a sense of obligation, especially from a Christian perspective, to be the Good Samaritan, and hopefully get people to band together and still wear their mask and get a vaccine.”

She says that although the job can be tough at times, it can also be inspiring.

“When I get [comments] from moms that are just like me,” she said. “And they heard different things, maybe from their friends or their pastors, that were not correct … And they went and got their vaccines and then they send pictures of [them] being able to hug their parents that they hadn’t seen in a year, that just means the world to me. That they trusted me enough to do that, that they could connect with their families.”

https://whyy.org/segments/how-a-christian-epidemiologist-works-to-sway- white-evangelicals-on-covid-and-vaccines/

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-22   17:13:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: watchman, and Everyone (#1)

White evangelicals more hesitant to get the coronavirus
vaccine than other religious groups, survey shows

BY VANESSA LEO

Nearly half of white evangelicals say they will not get a coronavirus vaccine, according to a recent survey, and a local pastor said many in his congregation seem very distrustful of the shot and see getting it as backing a political agenda they don't support.

Weekly vaccination numbers are dropping across the U.S., the Centers for Disease and Control stated. That same trend is also reflected in North Carolina with weekly vaccination rates at an all-time low, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said.

The Pew Research Institute conducted a survey, asking U.S. adults whether they intend to get vaccinated and also asked their religion.

The results showed intent to get vaccinated against COVID-19 varies by religious affiliation.

Forty-five percent of white evangelicals said they will not get a vaccine — the largest group out of the religious affiliations.

Johnathan Foster is pastor at Vertical Life Church in Newton, and he said he sees the survey results reflected in his congregation.

Vertical Life is considered a white evangelical church. Foster says they do have Black, Asian, Hispanic and white members but have mostly white evangelical congregates.

Foster said he has seen the decision to get vaccinated turn into a political decision for his members, instead of a health choice.

"If I had to give an opinion of why, I really think mistrust would be the primary reason and the motive behind why that is," Foster said.

He says a large percentage of his members are Republican and conservative, and they don't trust the politicians delivering the message regarding vaccinations.

"They don’t view it prescribed by the doctor. They view it as mandated by the government," Foster said.

He said the members who have been vaccinated are elderly, care for the elderly or were required to by their employer.

"The other half doesn’t feel threatened by COVID-19," Foster said.

He believes if members would see their religious core values reflected in the political leaders, they may consider it, but he also believes the damage has been done.

“During the candidacies, and the election, this issue was politicized, and now since [it was] politicized they feel like if they give success to any group that they can take credit for those numbers, then they’re betraying their political agenda," Foster said.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2021/05/24/w h ite-evangelicals-vaccine-hesitation

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-22   17:21:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: watchman, and Everyone (#1)

Many Evangelicals say they won't be vaccinated
against Covid-19. Some experts
say distrust and misinformation have played a role

By Elle Reeve

At Pastor Tony Spell's Sunday sermon this week, he preached a different kind of message than usual to his congregants: Don't trust Covid-19 vaccines.

"I'll just tell you today, if being anti-mask and anti-vaccine is anti- government, then I'm proud to be anti-government," Spell, who has made a national name for himself protesting Covid-19 rules in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told Life Tabernacle Church congregants.

He goes on to falsely state: "If you have a 99.6% survival rate, why do you want somebody to contaminate your bloodstream with something that may or may not hurt you?"

Health experts in the US and beyond agree that Covid-19 vaccines continue to be safe and highly effective at preventing Covid-19 infection, which has killed more than 560,000 Americans and infected more than 31 million.

While 95% of Evangelical leaders who responded to a January survey from the National Association of Evangelicals said they would be open to getting a vaccine, Spell is adamantly against it. He's among the significant number of Evangelical Christians who have remained opposed to getting vaccinated for Covid-19.

In a Kaiser Family Foundation poll published last month, 28% of White adults who identify as Evangelical Christians said they definitely will not get a vaccine, 6% said they will only get vaccinated if they have to, and 15% said they will wait and see.

The anti-Covid vaccine sentiment among Evangelicals is fed by a mixture of distrust in government, ignorance about how vaccines work, misinformation and political identity, some experts say.

"They (Evangelicals) are the group that is the most likely to say that they are not going to take the vaccine," Samuel Perry, a sociology professor at University of Oklahoma who specializes in religion, told CNN. "They have from the beginning exercised or expressed the most resistance to the vaccine."

And they have maintained that stance over and over in surveys in the last six months, according to Perry.

Misinformation has contributed to Evangelicals distrust in vaccine

Among Republicans, White Evangelical Christians are more likely than other religious groups to believe in certain conspiracy theories, according to a study by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

"There is a tendency within White Christian nationalism, to want to believe these kinds of conspiracies, because I think it reinforces this idea of an us versus them," Perry said. "The problem is, the people who are feeding that fear, have an incentive to keep stoking that fear because people keep clicking, and people keep listening."

Some at Life Tabernacle Church say they won't get vaccine

Spell's congregation is fairly diverse, in part because he buses in people from all over town. CDC data shows that Black and Hispanic people are about three times more likely than White people to be hospitalized with Covid-19 and about twice as likely to die from the disease.

Though people of color tend to be most at risk for Covid, the pastor said he still discourages vaccines. "I don't know anybody in my church, Black, brown, El Salvadorean and Honduran and Mexican, who had the virus," he said. "I don't know anybody."

Perry said leaders like Spell "have really bought into this idea that if I continue to, to sow this narrative where people feel victimized and fearful and angry, I can continue to build my audience, build my own credibility in this group of people that says, 'Yeah, everybody else is untrustworthy but you.'"

At Life Tabernacle Church, a handful of people who CNN spoke with said they were not interested in getting the vaccine. Jeff Jackson, a Life Tabernacle Church parishioner, told CNN he believes vaccines are "detrimental to your health."

Patricia Seal, also a Life Tabernacle Church parishioner, said while she loves former President Donald Trump, "when he was talking about getting the shot I said, you can have it all you want. I don't want it."

Jacob McMorris, another Life Tabernacle Church parishioner, said he also doesn't want to get a vaccine.

"I feel like, and I know it works medically, but when you put something in you to help you stop from getting it, that just doesn't work for me," he told CNN. "I've never liked the idea of that."

Only one person CNN interviewed, Kerry Williams, said he had gotten a vaccine. "Yeah I got the vaccine," he said, noting he still has to go get his second one.

Health expert: 70% of population needs to get vaccinated to help control virus

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the number of Americans who have been vaccinated and who intend to be vaccinated continues to rise, while the number of people who say they want to "wait and see" is falling. Dr. Fauci on Tucker Carlson's comment: Typical crazy conspiracy theory

But for White Evangelicals, the number who say they are opposed to getting a Covid vaccine remains high, Perry said, and that may be a problem for some areas, where they represent a much higher percentage of the population than they do nationally.

"We're going to see consequences in those regions of the country," Perry said. "And that will be felt by the vulnerable and the elderly."

Evangelicals make up about 25% of the US population, according to Pew. And some experts say that 70% of the population needs to get the vaccine to help control Covid-19.

"This is a highly contagious infection," Dr. William Schaffner, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, previously told CNN. "So we anticipate that in order to really substantially control the disease, we will have to vaccinate around 70% of the population at least, it's so contagious, that we need lots of people protected so that the virus can't find somebody else to infect."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/us/covid- vaccine- evangelicals/index.html

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-22   17:40:32 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: watchman, and Everyone (#1)

Pastor reveals the reasons behind COVID
vaccine hesitancy in the evangelical community

As of Thursday, more than 64 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and many others are eagerly waiting for their shots. But among white evangelical Americans, interest in the vaccine isn't as widespread. John Yang speaks with one evangelical leader about why that is, and what can be done to change it.

Read the Full Transcript HERE.

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   4:08:41 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: watchman, and Everyone (#1)

Christians and the Vaccine' project:
Combating ethical qualms of evangelical communities

By Corky Siemaszko

The Christians and the Vaccine project is directed at evangelical and born-again Christians.

The thrust of a new campaign to persuade mostly white born-again and evangelical Christians who have been unwilling to get Covid-19 vaccinations is a variation on the Golden Rule — do it for others if you won't do it for yourself.

And the main driver behind the Christians and the Vaccine project backs up his contention that that is what Jesus would do by both citing the Bible and tapping the expertise of secular public health experts like Dr. Francis Collins, who heads the National Institutes of Health.

"It is necessary for others in the world that we Christians take the vaccine," Curtis Chang, a theologian and founder of the Redeeming Babel site, wrote in one section. Christians and the Vaccine is a project of Redeeming Babel. "Given our numbers in the U.S. and in many parts of the world, what Christians decide will determine whether the world achieves herd immunity and whether the vaccine succeeds in bringing the pandemic to an end."

If Christians say no to the shots and continue to insist it's their right to do so, "then this will allow the virus to still circulate and replicate in the world."

"Your opportunity is to take the vaccine not as something necessary for yourself, but as necessary for others, for the world," Chang wrote.

Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core, or IFYC, agreed that getting evangelicals vaccinated is necessary to end the pandemic.

"Religious engagement could be the key to herd immunity," Patel said.

The message isn't yet resonating with born-again or evangelical Christians, which is how about a quarter of Americans identify their faith, according to recent polls by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Especially white born-again and evangelical Christians, most of whom are Republicans and strong supporters of former President Donald Trump, who has been widely criticized for spreading misinformation about Covid-19.

In a nationwide survey of 1,166 adults from March 26 to 29, 18 percent of white people who said they received a Covid-19 vaccine identified as born again or evangelical. Overall, 66 percent of the people surveyed who said they'd gotten a shot were white.

That was just 4 percentage points better than in a survey of 1,434 adults organizations conducted Feb. 25 to March 1. In that one, 14 percent of vaccinated white people said they were born again or evangelical. And overall, 75 percent of the people who said in that survey that they had been vaccinated were white.

Forty percent of white born-again or evangelical Christians said they weren't likely to get vaccinated, compared with 25 percent of all Americans, 28 percent of white mainline Protestants and 27 percent of nonwhite Protestants.

Those findings are also reflected in a new Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI, and IFYC survey of 5,600 Americans conducted March 8–30.

"Religion is a critical but often overlooked factor both for understanding the complexities of vaccine hesitancy and for developing strategies for winning the battle to overcome Covid-19 and its future variants," PRRI founder and CEO Robert P. Jones said. "For example, among Black Protestants, attending religious services is associated with lower levels of vaccine hesitancy, while the opposite is true among white evangelical Protestants, where clergy have been more reticent to speak out."

Chang said in an interview that worrisome numbers like those "prompted us to act."

"A key audience for us to reach are the pastors," he said. "We have seen survey results that show 95 percent of the pastors plan to get a vaccine but only 55 percent of the base intends to do so. "

So, among other things, he said, Chang included a Pastor's Toolkit on the site to help church leaders answer some of their flocks' most common questions about the vaccines.

"These are the basic medical questions, like are the vaccines safe? Will I suffer any side effects? How can you spot fake news?" Chang said. "We think this will get some traction."

The toolkit also provides answers to help pastors calm the fear of churchgoers worried about taking vaccines that were developed so quickly and to instill a sense of responsibility to the community.

"It is true that you can avoid these minimal risks by skipping the vaccine, but you cannot avoid the fact that doing so exposes you (and others around you) to the much greater risk of you contracting the COVID virus and spreading it to others," it says.

Many of the community's most prominent pastors have already been leading by example. J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, recently posted a picture of himself on Facebook getting a shot. And Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress has been encouraging his massive flock to get vaccinated, Christianity Today reported.

So reaching out to other pastors is a smart tactical move by Chang, said Summer Johnson McGee, dean of the University of New Haven's School of Health Sciences.

"Pastors and other religious leaders have tremendous moral authority in their communities that can help inform and persuade individuals to be vaccinated," McGee said. "Pastors as social influencers can effectively promote the social good of vaccination and remind their congregants that 'loving thy neighbor' can include getting a shot."

Officials plead for public to get vaccinated as Covid cases rise

Devan Stahl, an assistant professor of religion at Baylor University, agreed, saying it was "a valiant effort."

"He is trying to equip pastors to talk to their congregations with information and talking points," Stahl said. "That makes sense."

The born-again and evangelical communities, Stahl said, "are not monolithic."

"There is a sweet spot among evangelicals, which might even be the majority of evangelicals, who are hesitant and have some concerns that he addresses directly," Stahl said. "He is taking the approach advocated by public health experts to take the concerns of vaccine-hesitant people seriously and not take the approach of telling people, 'You're stupid for believing this.'"

But, Stahl said, some in the community are so fearful of authority that they will dismiss out of hand any of the information Chang presents from government agencies like the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "And they're not going to be convinced by his biblical parsing," she said.

In addition, Chang might not be the best messenger for this particular group of evangelicals and born-again Christians. Chang, a Harvard graduate who is on the faculty of the Duke Divinity School, is a senior fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, one of the leading evangelical seminaries in the U.S.

"That could backfire with this group, because they don't even want their own pastors going to elite schools," Stahl said. "They are seeking a kind of religious purity, and they see these outside influences as corrupting."

Chang is also Asian in a time when there has been a sharp rise in anti- Asian bias and violence, a phenomenon many blame Trump for fueling by insisting on calling Covid-19 the "China virus."

"It will be a problem for some people, and that is unfortunate," Stahl said. "I'm sure there will be some who have been convinced Covid was deliberately released from China who will view anything he says with suspicion."

Chang conceded that on the Facebook page he has already "gotten a few smatterings of racist or quasi-racist comments, but they have been a small minority."

"I actually think that for the broader cause of ending the pandemic, my status as an Asian-American may be one of the ways God is using me," he said by email. "This because as much as I'm trying to convince white evangelicals themselves, I'm also trying to convince the secular public health system to pay attention to this demographic. Given the political and racial dynamics in play, I sense it would be awkward for even a pro- vaccine white evangelical leader to say to secular public leaders: 'Pay more attention to us! Invest more resources to serve my community!'"

The Christians and the Vaccine project, produced in collaboration with National Association of Evangelicals, the COVID Collaborative, the Ad Council, Values Partnerships and Public Square Strategies, steers clear of Trump and the circumstances that turned him and the community into political bedfellows.

The project does, however, have a series of videos in which Chang addresses head-on other thorny questions that have bedeviled the drive to vaccinate this large group of Americans, such as whether it's "a form of government control" (it's not) or whether someone who opposes abortion should have ethical qualms about getting vaccinated (no).

None of the approved vaccines contain fetal tissue. Scientists have used cells from fetal tissue for decades to study conditions like birth defects, Alzheimer's disease and AIDS, to name a few.

In addition, Chang addresses a question that many Americans would scoff at but which is deadly serious to many fervent Christians, namely whether the Covid-19 vaccine is a "mark of the beast," or a symbol of the Devil.

The answer, Chang says in a video on the site, "depends greatly on one's reading approach to the book of Revelation, the final book in the Bible."

But the Covid-19 vaccines are "definitely not the mark of the beast," and they have the potential to "give us hope, to give an indication that there is an end to suffering and death," Chang said.

Chang, who buttressed his argument by citing several Biblical passages, noted that back in the 1930s some fearful Christians were convinced that Social Security numbers were the "mark of the beast" when they were introduced.

"And now, it's happening with the vaccine," Chang wrote.

Stahl said the question of how to read the Book of Revelation "has been an ongoing debate for more than a hundred years in Protestantism." "Convincing people, especially fundamentalists, that they're reading the Bible wrong is going to be very hard," Stahl said.

POSTER’S NOTE:

Repeating: "Convincing people, especially fundamentalists, that they're reading the Bible wrong is going to be very hard," Stahl said.

We know that is wrong – Eh, watchman.

For we know that it is “going to be IMPOSSIBLE” !!!!

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/divine-intervention- pastors-tapped-help-get-skeptical-churchgoers-vaccinated-n1264646

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   4:25:30 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: watchman (#1)

More propaganda from CDC shill Gatlin.

More Carol Baker style attacks on whites and Christians.

Fake "Christian" leaders are joining in...

Gatlin has gone full-bore BLM with his "blame whitey and Christians" schtick. It's a wonder why Stone even tolerates this propaganda peddler.

Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen.
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.

Deckard  posted on  2021-07-23   6:28:03 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Deckard (#7)

It's a wonder why Stone even tolerates this propaganda peddler.

I wonder about that too.

At least Stone would delete his posts from time to time.

With Stone on hiatus Gatlin will continue to flood this place with his bitterness and lies.

watchman  posted on  2021-07-23   9:22:17 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: Deckard, watchman, abd Everyone (#8)

At least Stone would delete his posts from time to time.

You two are an utter amazement. In that if you don’t agree with something – or it’s not what you already believe – then it should be CENSORED, and never be allowed to be posted.

From the article below:

5. Just Shut Up

“Closed-minded people block others from speaking.”

The Difference Between Open-Minded and Closed-Minded People.

Why is it that some people seem to make constant progress in their professional and personal lives, while others appear to be doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over?

While the answer isn’t cut and dry, I’ve noticed an interesting mindset difference between these two groups: they approach obstacles and challenges very differently. It comes down to mindset.

Successful people tend to approach life with an open mindset — an eagerness to learn and a willingness to be wrong. The other group digs their heels in at the first sign of disagreement and would rather die than be wrong.

It turns out, the way each group approaches obstacles defines much of what separates them.

Which Group Are you In?

Before you smugly slap an open-minded sticker on your chest, consider this: closed-minded people would never consider that they could actually be closed-minded. In fact, their perceived open-mindedness is what’s so dangerous.

It’s a version of the Batesian Mimic Problem — are you the real thing or a copycat? Are you the real deal, or have you simply learned to talk the talk, to look the part?

These are tough questions to answer. Nobody wants to admit to themselves that they’re closed-minded. But the advantages of having that courage are massive. The ability to change your mind is a superpower.

The ability to change your mind is a superpower.

The rate at which you learn and progress in the world depends on how willing you are to weigh the merit of new ideas, even if you don’t instinctively like them. Perhaps especially if you don’t like them.

What’s more, placing your trust and effort in the right mentor can propel you forward, just as placing it in the wrong person can send you back to the starting point.

So how can you tell what camp you’re in? How do you make sure you’re being influenced by the right group of people?

In his book Principles, Ray Dalio, self-made billionaire and founder of the largest hedge fund in the world, lays out seven powerful ways you can tell the difference.

1. Challenging Ideas

Closed-minded people don’t want their ideas challenged. They are typically frustrated that they can’t get the other person to agree with them instead of curious as to why the other person disagrees.

Closed-minded people are more interested in proving themselves right than in getting the best outcome. They don’t ask questions. They want to show you where you’re wrong without understanding where you’re coming from. They get angry when you ask them to explain something. They think people who ask questions are slowing them down. And they think you’re an idiot if you don’t agree.

In short, they’re on the wrong side of right.

Open-minded people are more curious about why there is disagreement. … They understand that there is always the possibility that they might be wrong and that it’s worth the little bit of time it takes to consider the other person’s views….

Open-minded people see disagreement as a thoughtful means to expand their knowledge. They don’t get angry or upset at questions; rather, they want to identify where the disagreement lies so they can correct their misperceptions. They realize that being right means changing their minds when someone else knows something they don’t.

2. Statements vs. Questions

Closed-minded people are more likely to make statements than ask questions.

These are the people who sit in meetings and are more than willing to offer their opinions, but never ask other people to expand on or explain their ideas. Closed-minded people are thinking of how they would refute the other person’s thoughts, rather than trying to understand what they might be missing.

Open-minded people genuinely believe they could be wrong; the questions that they ask are genuine.

Open-minded people know that while they may have an opinion on a subject, it could count for less than someone else’s. Maybe they’re outside their circle of competence or maybe they’re experts. Regardless, they’re always curious as to how people see things differently and they weigh their opinions accordingly.

3. Understanding

Closed-minded people focus much more on being understood than on understanding others.

People’s default behaviors offer a quick tell. When you disagree with someone, what’s their reaction? If they’re quick to rephrase what they just said or, even worse, repeat it, then they are assuming that you don’t understand them, rather than that you are disagreeing with them.

Open-minded people feel compelled to see things through others’ eyes.

When you disagree with an open-minded person, they are quick to assume that they might not understand something and to ask you to tell them where their understanding is incomplete.

4. I Might Be Wrong, But…

Dalio nails this one. I have nothing to add.

Closed-minded people say things like “I could be wrong … but here’s my opinion.” This is a classic cue I hear all the time. It’s often a perfunctory gesture that allows people to hold their own opinion while convincing themselves that they are being open-minded. If your statement starts with “I could be wrong”…, you should probably follow it with a question and not an assertion.

Open-minded people know when to make statements and when to ask questions.

5. Just Shut Up

“Closed-minded people block others from speaking.”

They don’t have time to rehash something already talked about. They don’t want to hear anyone’s voices but their own. (Dalio offers a “two- minute rule” to get around this: Everyone has the right to speak for two minutes without being interrupted.)

Open-minded people are always more interested in listening than in speaking.

More than that, they say things like, “Sam, I notice you’ve been quiet. Would you like to offer your thoughts to the group?”

6. Only One Sperm Gets In

Closed-minded people have trouble holding two thoughts simultaneously in their minds.

This reminds me of the memorable quote by Charlie Munger: “The human mind is a lot like the human egg, and the human egg has a shut-off device. When one sperm gets in, it shuts down so the next one can’t get in.” It’s our nature to close our minds around our favorite ideas, but this is not the ideal way to think and learn.

Open-minded people can take in the thoughts of others without losing their ability to think well—they can hold two or more conflicting concepts in their mind and go back and forth between them to assess their relative merits.

7. Humble Pie

Closed-minded people lack a deep sense of humility.

Where does one get humility? Usually from failure—a crash so terrible they don’t want to repeat it. I remember when a hedge fund I was on the board of made a terrible investment decision. We spent a lot of time rubbing our noses in it afterward in an attempt to make sure we wouldn’t repeat the same mistake. In the process, we learned a lot about what we didn’t know.

Open-minded people approach everything with a deep-seated fear that they may be wrong.

***

If you recognize closed-minded behavior patterns in yourself, you’re not alone. We’re all somewhere on the continuum between open- and closed- minded by default. Further complicating things, it varies by day and challenge.

Staying open-minded doesn’t happen by accident.

When you find yourself exhibiting these behaviors in the moment, acknowledge what’s happening and correct it. Don’t blame yourself. As soon as you can, find a quiet place and reflect on what’s going on at a deeper level. Try to do better next time. Remember that this stuff takes work.

Maybe you have your self-worth wrapped up in being right, or maybe you’re not the right person to make a given decision. Or maybe it’s something else. Either way, this is something worth exploring.

I have one more thing to add: Being open-minded does not mean that you spend an inordinate amount of time considering patently bad ideas just for the sake of open-mindedness.

You must have what Garrett Hardin calls a “default status” on various issues in your head. If someone offers you the proverbial free lunch, it’s OK to default to skepticism. If someone offers to build you a perpetual motion machine, I suggest you ignore them, as they’re violating the laws of thermodynamics. If someone offers to help you defraud the government and suggests that “no one will know,” I suggest you walk away immediately. There is wisdom in closed-mindedness on certain issues.

But consider this: Do you know anyone who doesn’t have any blind spots? I strongly doubt it. Then why would you be any different? As Dalio makes clear, you must be active in the process of open-mindedness: It won’t happen by accident.

https://fs.blog/2017/09/open-closed-minded/

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   13:55:37 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: Deckard, watchman, and Everyone (#7)

Gatlin has gone full-bore BLM with his "blame whitey and Christians" schtick.
From the article below:

HOW DO WE LEARN FROM OTHER PEOPLE?

One important type of social learning is learning from someone else, by watching what they do. The idea is that other people’s mistakes and successes can teach you whether you should behave the same way, or differently.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Social Learning and the Brain: How Do We Learn From and About Other People?

ABSTRACT

When you think about learning, you probably think about things you are taught at school. But have you ever realized you use a different type of learning as well, on a daily basis? This type of learning is called social learning, and it has to do with the people around you. That is, you learn from and about others by watching and interacting with them. For example, seeing someone else’s mistakes may teach you to avoid falling into the same trap. Although social learning happens very often, you may not yet know much about it. However, social learning is very important because it helps us to learn more efficiently and to determine how best to behave around others. In this article, we introduce two different types of social learning, and explain how your brain plays an important role.

WHAT IS SOCIAL LEARNING AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

When you think about the most recent thing you learned, the first thing that comes to mind is probably something you learned at school. For example, the French vocabulary you need to know for your upcoming test. Learning such things may be useful in the future: if you ever go to France on holidays, you will be able to ask for directions, for instance.

Clearly, learning knowledge (such as the French vocabulary) can be quite important. However, in addition to learning from books, you can also learn from and about the people around you. This is called social learningLearning new information in a social context, with other people being the source of this information. Examples are learning from or about other people. because, for this type of learning, people are the source. Most of the time, you are surrounded by other people, including your family, teachers, and school friends. Therefore, you probably learn from and about others every day, perhaps without even realizing it!

Because humans are such social beings, social learning is an important skill. Social learning is a very efficient way to learn things. For example, you do not have to figure everything out on your own, because you learn from other people’s mistakes and successes. Also, social learning can enable you to get to know others better, and therefore to better understand how to behave around them. Such social learning skills help you to have good relationships with others, which is good for your well-being.

In this article, we explain two types of social learning: learning from other people and learning about other people. To show that you already use these types of social learning frequently, we will provide examples that you may encounter in school. Finally, because your brain plays a critical role in learning, we will explain how social learning works in the brain.

HOW DO WE LEARN FROM OTHER PEOPLE?

One important type of social learning is learning from someone else, by watching what they do. The idea is that other people’s mistakes and successes can teach you whether you should behave the same way, or differently.

For example, imagine you are taking a test in school, but you just do not know enough of the answers to get a good grade. Your friend is sitting next to you, and you see she has already written down her answers. You may be tempted to take a quick look … but then, suddenly, one of your classmates gets caught cheating and is punished. Now you will probably think more negatively about cheating, because you have seen that it may result in punishment! In other words, you have learned from someone else’s mistake that it is better not to cheat during a test.

When you learn from watching other people, you are learning about the choices they make (such as cheating), and the results of those choices (such as punishment). If the results are positive, you are more likely to make the same choice. However, if the results are negative, you will probably make a different choice.

Scientists have discovered that people are good at learning about the best choices to make. However, we learn even better if we can also watch other people learning the same thing [1]. When we watch others’ choices, whether the results are good or bad, we have extra information on what the best choice may be. We use that extra information to improve our own choices. So, we benefit from learning from others, as it helps us to make better choices ourselves. This makes learning from other people’s mistakes and successes more efficient than figuring things out on our own.

HOW DO WE LEARN ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE?

We have just explained that people learn efficiently from other people, by watching them. Another common type of social learning is learning about other people, by interacting with them. When you learn about other people, you learn what they are like and how they behave. For this type of learning, you need to pay attention to other people’s behavior so you can use this information in future decisions.

For example, imagine you tell one of your classmates that you like the boy sitting two tables away. However, it turns out your classmate is actually untrustworthy: your secret ends up being passed on to the entire class and you are very upset! In this case, you may have learned that it is better not to tell her your secrets again.

Although there are a lot of things you can learn about other people, many scientists study how we learn about other people’s trustworthiness. Learning who you can trust is very important, because it helps you to decide whether you can believe the things a person says.

Scientists have discovered that, during the teenage years, we become better and faster at learning who we can trust and who does not deserve our trust [2]. So, during development, we become better at learning about others. This type of social learning therefore helps us to decide how to behave around others, which is necessary to build good relationships.

HOW DOES SOCIAL LEARNING WORK?

Now that we have introduced these two types of social learning, we will explain how social learning works. When you learn something, you are updating the things you know with the new information. Your brain is involved in this updating: it works like a calculator. That is, your brain is constantly calculating the difference between what you expect to happen, and what actually happens. If something unexpected happens, this may surprise you. The surprise is called a prediction errorThe “surprise” when there is a difference between what you expect to happen, and what actually happens.—you made a mistake (error) in what you predicted would happen. Your brain notes this prediction error and makes sure you learn from it, updating what you already know with the new information.

In the case of social learning, consider the example we discussed earlier, when you told your classmate about your secret crush (Figure 1). You expected her to keep quiet, but she did not. So, what happened was quite surprising because it was different from your expectation. Your brain notes the prediction error and uses this new information to update what you know about your classmate. That is, you have learned about your classmate, and you will not easily trust her with your secrets again1.

WHICH PARTS OF THE BRAIN ARE INVOLVED?

To make all the calculations necessary for social learning, several areas of your brain are used. Scientists have discovered at least two brain areas that are important for social learning, called the ventral striatumBrain area that is, among others, involved in (social) learning because it calculates prediction errors. and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)Brain area involved in, among others, social learning because when there is a prediction error, the mPFC updates your incorrect expectations in the brain with the new information you learned. (Figure 2). They made these discoveries by using an MRI scanner to scan people’s brains. In Box 1, you can read more about how an MRI scanner works.

To understand how social learning works, many scientists study the brain using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner (Figure 3). This scanner is a huge magnet that can take pictures of the brain through the skull. Scientists may use MRI to take pictures of someone’s brain while that person is playing a computer game involving learning from or about others. In this way, scientists can find out which parts of the brain are involved during social learning. To find out more about how MRI scanners work and how they are used to study the brain, see [5].

The ventral striatum is an area in the middle of the brain that you use when you make decisions, when you enjoy something, and when something is rewarding. Also, the ventral striatum is important for calculating prediction errors [4]. It is therefore an important brain area for regular learning and social learning.

The mPFC is an area in the front of the brain (behind your forehead), that seems particularly important for thinking about what others are thinking, and for making decisions that involve other people. Also, the mPFC is involved in learning: After prediction errors are calculated by the ventral striatum, your MPFC updates the expectations you had with the new information [4]. The mPFC is, therefore, another important brain area for social learning.

So, the ventral striatum and the mPFC both play roles in social learning. However, it is important to realize that these brain areas are involved in other behaviors, in addition to social learning. Also, the ventral striatum and the mPFC are not the only parts of the brain used during social learning—many brain areas are involved. All these brain areas work together and communicate with each other while you are learning in complex social situations.

RECAP: WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT SOCIAL LEARNING

In this article, we have explained the two types of social learning and why social learning is an important skill. First, learning from other people’s behavior and their resulting mistakes and successes is more efficient than figuring things out on your own. Second, learning about other people by interacting with them can help you to learn who you can trust and help you to build good relationships. When what actually happens does not match what you predicted would happen, prediction errors are calculated in the brain, and these prediction errors result in learning. Prediction errors are calculated in the ventral striatum, which the mPFC uses to update the information already stored in the brain.

Now that you know more about social learning, perhaps you can think of your own examples of when you learned from or about others. Maybe you can think of ways social learning helped you to learn more efficiently, or to decide the best way to behave around others. The next time you watch or meet other people, think about the amazing calculations that are going on in your brain!

htt ps ://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00095

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   14:46:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: Deckard, watchman, and Everyone (#7)

It's a wonder why Stone even tolerates this propaganda peddler.

I present no propaganda. Propaganda is a systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions. It is easy to distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. Propagandists have a specified goal or set of goals. I have none – I desire to convert no one. I never omit or distort pertinent inforamtion or simply lie, and try to divert the attention of the reactors from learning the facts.

I educate, in that I try to present various sides of an issue. The grounds for doubting as well as the grounds for believing the statements, and the disadvantages as well carefully considering as the advantages of every conceivable course of action. I educate to induce reactors to collect and evaluate evidence to assist in learning.

You two individuals must earn to keep this straight in your minds – as I ever so eloquently continue to “EDUCATE” you two mentally ham strung individuals …

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   15:25:13 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: watchman, Deckard, and Everyone (#8)

The Principles of Objectivity
Can Help You Think Smarter

How objective are you? How often are you over-reacting to situations, taking things personally, perceiving tone in e-mail or judging people unfairly? We all do this at some time or another.

The challenge for many of us is that when we are under a lot of pressure, we tend to be less objective. Under stress, most of us draw solely on our past experiences, old assumptions and biases, which cloud our ability to see things clearly and make sound judgments. Moreover, our desire to succeed is often so strong, that, under these intense circumstances, our insecurities and our limiting and unproductive mental models tend to get in our way, creating even more stress and causing us to react in ways that we may regret.

Our ability to be objective depends on our willingness to question our mental models, the lens through which we perceive, interpret and respond to our world. If our mental models are incorrect, then our understanding of what is going on and our response to it, are often incorrect. This is why we sometimes misjudge situations, over-react and take things personally.

The good news is that with the brains neuroplasticity and with practice, we can interrupt our automatic reactions, those often driven my limiting and unproductive mental models, and choose a different response. Each time we do this, we are re-wiring our neural network by creating new pathways based on new models: new ways of perceiving and responding to our world. We can actually learn to think smarter!

One of the most powerful mental model transformation catalysts is knowledge, new information or logic that defies old mental models and ways of thinking. As we have seen, mental models are deep-rooted beliefs, ideas, and notions that we tend to hold onto, no matter what. They define our sense of reality and drive our perception, interpretation, and response to everything we experience. Mental models predispose us to very specific ways of thinking and acting. They’ve usually been with us a while, so we tend to trust them, in some cases justifiably. For most of us, we have never been taught about mental models and how to evaluate them to determine if they are helpful or harmful.

To transform unproductive mental models, you must change your mind! I cannot tell you that your Perfectionist mental model does not serve you well. You have to decide, through your own logic and reason, whether your way of seeing the world is no longer valid for you. This requires that you be open to new knowledge, information, and reasoning. It is in the wake of this new knowledge that transformation takes place. Mark Jung-Beeman of Northwestern University’s Institute for Neuroscience and others call it a “moment of insight” and have used MRI and EEG technologies to study how they happen. The findings suggest that at a moment of insight, an adrenaline-like chemical is released and a complex set of new connections is created in the brain. It’s these new connections that have the potential to enhance our mental resources to help us transform limiting mental models.

To help facilitate a moment of insight, there are four Principles of Objectivity that have been very effective in transforming old mental models. These are insights that we all intuitively understand and that can be verified through our own personal experience, and yet we tend to take them for granted or discount altogether. The next few blogs will review each of the four Principles of Objectivity. The first one is:

We all know that what can go wrong, will go wrong. But often when things happen that we don’t expect or anticipate, we start the mini-movie titled, “Why me, this always happens to me.” We start playing back memories of all the things that have gone wrong lately. Some of us react by disowning the problem or, worse yet, engaging in wishful thinking, willing the problem to go away on its own. Of course, in most cases, it won’t.

In order to effectively handle day-to-day problems, the first step is to accept that they exist. Acceptance of “what is” is a precondition to right action. Non-acceptance is an ideal condition for an emotional, subjective reaction, and we have already learned how that can end. Furthermore, non-acceptance does not alter the fact that there is a problem. It just creates a chain of further emotional reactions that make the problem worse. If you are objective in your perception of a situation, you can then respond to it appropriately. The key is to accept a problem as it occurs and not take it personally.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-objective- leader/201604/the-principles-objectivity-can-help-you-think-smarter

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   15:58:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: watchman, Deckard, abd Everyone (#8)

At least Stone would delete [Gatlin’s] posts …

So, since you cannot have a strong position to argue intelligently against an issue where I am presenting both sides for consideration in a post – then you are saying that the posts should be deleted.

WHY?

If your position is strong, then create a valid argument where there is no need for censorship and you must ignore validating context and inconvenient facts deserving of consideration.

To call for censorship, demonstrates your weakness of position for argument and a lack of ethics.

But then …

A fanatical religious person cannot intelligently argue from a position of strength – If they think they’re right, they’re always right.

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   23:00:06 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: watchman, Deckard, and Everyone (#8)

To make someone who is disapprovingly sad that they cannot control the narrative feel better you need to look for special words to give them comfort or sympathy.

Forget the clichés or any packaged sayings; it's important to be genuine. Your goal should be to express compassion, not to cheer up someone who is bereaved over failure.

You may want to think about changing what you say – There are a few comforting words in this special situation.

Such as:

I am sorry to hear about what you are going through. I can imagine the situation for I feel the same way. If you need anything, call on me – I am always here for you.

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-23   23:36:02 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Deckard, abd Everyone (#7)

More propaganda from … Gatlin.

Propaganda is a modern Latin word, ablative singular feminine of the gerundive form of propagare. The word propaganda literally translated from the Latin gerundive means "things that must be disseminated."

When you post information that you feel must be disseminated – you don’t call yourself a propagandist. But when I post information to offer insights from others’ ideas that I have included from research – you call me a propagandist as though I am evil for trying to educate you.

Why is that?

When discussing a topic, I reference outside sources to introduce material and information in order to help you better understand both your points and the points of others. My goal is simply to summarize all findings and critically communicate the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of those findings for you and everyone to objectively consider all aspects before arriving at a conclusion.

I say, that you are never too old to learn. I also say, that you can definitely be too stupid to learn something correctly. I then ask, why are you too stupid – Deckard?

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-24   4:58:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: Gatlin (#13)

So, since you cannot have a strong position to argue intelligently against an issue where I am presenting both sides for consideration in a post – then you are saying that the posts should be deleted.

WHY?

To my knowledge Stone did not delete posts that were composed of your personal opinions and views.

He deleted the articles you posted from liberal crazies...that you posted repetitively.

repetitive [rYÈpedYdiv] ADJECTIVE...containing or characterized by repetition, especially when unnecessary or tiresome.

Those articles were liberal, anti-conservative, and anti-christian

You were using those articles as weapons to push your liberal, globalist NWO agenda.

Stone was acting as a moderator.

Since you cannot moderate yourself he has to do it for you.

Stone is a gracious host imo.

watchman  posted on  2021-07-24   6:51:05 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: watchman, and Everyone (#16) (Edited)

So, since you cannot have a strong position to argue intelligently against an issue where I am presenting both sides for consideration in a post – then you are saying that the posts should be deleted.

WHY?

To my knowledge Stone did not delete posts that were composed of your personal opinions and views.

You have flawed knowledge – and as always, a wrong belief that is perceived by you to be a self-evident fact for eternity.

He deleted the articles you posted from liberal crazies...

Yes, he did.

… that you posted repetitively.

Yes, I did.

Those articles were liberal, anti-conservative, and anti-christian.

Yes, they were.

Conservatives always scream ‘Holly Hell’ when privately held social media deletes articles supporting conservative views.

Yet, it’s “God Bless, Stone” for deleting articles on a privately run chit-chat site that supports liberal, anti-conservative, and anti- Christian views.

Why is this - watchman?

I say let people read those dissenting articles and disagree them on the open forum – if they can intelligently do so.

Oh, but when they can’t be intelligently disagreed with and be shown where the articles are wrong – then what is the only alternative?

Ah Ha – DELETE those dastardly articles !!!

Not smart …

You were using those articles as weapons to push your liberal, globalist NWO agenda.

Nope, that was only your “PERCEPTION.” And you believe that simply because – AS ALWAYS – it was what you wanted to believe.

I presented those articles for open debate to show both sides of positions.

Yet, nobody – absolutely NOBODY – could or ever did dispute those articles to show where they were wrong. All that some assholes could do was to occasionally personally attack me for posting the controversial articles or approve of Stone deleting them.

Why ???

Stone was acting as a moderator.

Stone was not acting as a moderator. Stone acting as a far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized through the use of his dictatorial power. Where he forcible suppressed any opposition against his beliefs.

Had he been intelligent, he could had disputed the articles. That would have been much better and far more rational. Since he could not, he deleted the articles.

Since you cannot moderate yourself he has to do it for you.

Why do I neev to “moderate myself” when Stone has posted in is Mission Statement that …

… any news that one feels needs to be discussed is welcome at Liberty's Flame. This site was built upon the idea of free speech so everyone is welcome to come and discuss and debate the issues on hand.

Stone does not say that ONLY conservative news will be discussed – Stone says – REPEATING:

… any news that one feels needs to be discussed is welcome at Liberty's Flame.

Is that a LIE – or, IS THAT A LIE ???

Tell me …

Stone is a gracious host imo.

Of course, you do.

It is a natural predictable reaction since you never disagree with Stone and Stone never disagrees with you. You are echo chambers. And you mirror each other.

How much more “GRACIOUS” of a host can he be for you …

You neglected to answer my question before you went into your rant to laud Stone.

I will therefore, repeat my question:

So, since you cannot have a strong position to argue intelligently against an issue where I am presenting both sides for consideration in a post – then you are saying that the posts should be deleted.
And again, I still ask – WHY …

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-24   8:56:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#18. To: Gatlin (#17)

WHY? Why is this - watchman? Why ??? And again, I still ask – WHY …

watchman  posted on  2021-07-24   9:29:25 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#19. To: watchman, and Everyone (#18)

WHY? Why is this - watchman? Why ???

Jeffy - Why "Music Video."

That was cute.

But AGAIN, I still ask – WHY …

Why do you want articles deleted and go unread?

I believe it is best to know what liberals think and then it is easier to see where they are wrong.

How do you determine liberals are wrong if you don‘t listen to them or read what that have to say?

Is it Divine Intervention with you – a purported miracle caused by a deity's active involvement in the human world?

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-24   10:07:13 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#20. To: Gatlin (#19)

I believe it is best to know what liberals think and then it is easier to see where they are wrong.

I already know what you liberals think, Gatlin...

Get rid of whites. Lockdown the churches. Wear a mask. Be miserable. Blame others. Get vaccinated. Never go back to normal.

Your endless posting of liberal propaganda/spam is completely unnecessary. Stone is right when he deletes your crap off of his conservative forum.

Yeah, I'd call those deletions a Divine Intervention...that's why we thank God when he cleans up your messes.

watchman  posted on  2021-07-24   16:12:58 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#21. To: watchman, and Everyone (#20) (Edited)

watchman: I already know what you liberals think, Gatlin...

Do you, now?

Let’s see …

Get rid of whites

That’s atrociously asinine.

But if you believe it – then you tell me how liberals are getting “rid of whites.”

CAN YOU?

Lockdown the churches.

What – Only churches and only liberals?

You don’t know about all the many other lockdowns by, cough-cough, Republican governors?

All Democratic governors (24) issued lockdown and stay-at-home orders in their states, while 19 of the 26 Republican governors issued lockdown and stay-at-home orders stay- at-home orders in their states.

Wear a mask.

President Donald Trump offered his strongest endorsement for wearing face masks in public, tweeting that it is a “Patriotic” action to take during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ahem – Trump is no liberal thinker.

Be miserable.

Are Conservatives Really Happier Than Liberals?

Blame others.

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-24   18:38:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#22. To: watchman, and Everyone (#20)

Your endless posting of liberal propaganda/spam is completely unnecessary.

Your argument from ignorance (from Latin: argumentum ad ignorantiam) also known as appeal to ignorance (in which ignorance represents "a lack of contrary evidence"), is a fallacy in informal logic.

Through your informal logic, you have been completely unable to ever show the information posted was untrue.

Please let me know when you can start to do so …

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-24   19:04:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#23. To: watchman, and Everyone (#20)

Yeah, I'd call those deletions a Divine Intervention...

And I will tell you:
Divine intervention is no solution.

that's why we thank God when he cleans up your messes.
How has that been working out for you?

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-24   19:35:03 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#24. To: watchman, Deckard, and Everyone (#8) (Edited)

watchman:
More propaganda from CDC shill Gatlin.
More Carol Baker style attacks on whites and Christians.
Fake "Christian" leaders are joining in...
Deckard:
Gatlin has gone full-bore BLM with his "blame whitey and Christians" schtick. It's a wonder why Stone even tolerates this propaganda peddler.
watchman:
I wonder about that too.
At least Stone would delete his posts from time to time.
With Stone on hiatus Gatlin will continue to flood this place with his bitterness and lies.

It is definitely not propaganda or ies – and I have no bitterness. It is simply a discussion about ideologies and values by presenting both sides. It is imperative that we learn more about how liberals and conservatives differ in values on various political, economic, and social issues. To do that, we must read and consider both sides.

We know that liberals tend to value government regulation, whereas conservatives tend to value limited government, and it is because liberals and conservatives differ in this way that they often have opposing opinions on issues like minimum wage and long-term state-funded social welfare programs. But is that all we need to know and then close our minds to the many other things concerning liberals – while asking that articles be censored by deleting them? I say it is positively not.

As a conservative, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing for me to converse with those who disagree with me politically. In fact, I believe it is a good thing. For I have had meaningful, challenging discussions about controversial topics like abortion and economic policy with them, which results not only in me strengthening my value system but also, more importantly, understanding the values of others and their reasons for holding such values. “Know Your Enemy” – So to speak.

One person I know is very liberal, and he disagrees with me nearly every time we have talk about any political issue from abortion to gun control. Yet, I have learned to appreciate why he believes what he believes while still being true to my own belief values. This is the reason why I value controversy so much, sometimes even seek it and often times prompt to promote controversy on this forum.

Don’t avoid controversy or hide it behind a deletion shield. Because it is controversy that allows us an opportunity to understand the “other side.” Since, in an era of polarized politics, religious and non- religious violence, and international conflict, understanding and discussing both sides will be a thousand times more important than I can even say in words.

It is indeed unfortunate there are those who with a closed mind who will not consider controversy and “give shit to anyone who does.” There will always be differences in opinion – that will never change. So, we might as well make the most of that diversity and try to understand it, instead of blindly pushing it away as if it were harmful to our own ideologies, as if attacking it and being mean would somehow solve anything. Diversity only truly matters if we understand and appreciate our differences.

Otherwise, our time and efforts are tragically wasted. I’m not saying everyone must agree on everything; two people don’t have to agree to understand each other. In fact, it has been my experience that when I disagree with someone I understand them the most because controversy always presents a clear opportunity to learn from others. Controversy is daunting and can be intimidating, but it can be good if approached with conscious conversation with a sincere intention to learn.

Think about it …

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-25   21:45:01 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#25. To: Gatlin (#24)

To do that, we must read and consider both sides.

Otherwise, our time and efforts are tragically wasted.

It's too late for considering. Time has run out. The Age of Grace is closing. The fullness of the Gentiles has arrived.

The world is sliding into the Luciferian NWO...we are already there.

Dictators are everywhere...here in the usa, certainly Canada, Australia, the UK.

If (if!) this is the beginning of the Great Tribulation, well, Covid 19 is just the beginning (of sorrows).

By the end of the 7 year Trib there will be only a handful of humans left alive.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved...Matt 24:22a

If you aren't regenerated, now is the time. If you have loved ones, better tell them to believe on Christ, as well.

watchman  posted on  2021-07-25   22:59:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#26. To: watchman, and Everyone (#25) (Edited)

It is imperative that we learn more about how liberals and conservatives differ in values on various political, economic, and social issues. To do that, we must read and consider both sides.

It's too late for considering. Time has run out. [[watchman posted on 2021-07-25].

Actually, you are wrong. It is never too late for considering. The future is never settled. Your statement is neither true nor false – but grossly mistakenly asserted that it is true. So Totally Absurd!

The future awaits to spread forth and become the reality we make it be. It is only the lack of belief in ourselves that stops us from achieving those things within the heart, and it is only through our understanding, ability and perseverance can see them become realities.

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   6:22:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#27. To: watchman, and Everyone (#25) (Edited)

The Age of Grace is closing. [watchman posted on 2021-07-25].

You don’t know the “Age of Grace” is closing. This is only something you want to believe.

In his book Alone with the Savior, Billy Graham writes, “We are living in an age of grace in
which God promises that ‘whosoever will’ may come and receive His Son.”

How long will the Age of Grace last? Only God knows.

You don’t know – watchman. You don’t know that “the “Age of Grace” is closing.

So, stop “playing God” with your conjured up predictions – watchman !!! .

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   6:27:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#28. To: watchman, and Everyone (#25) (Edited)

The fullness of the Gentiles has arrived. [watchman posted on 2021-07- 25].

What does yhe term “the fullness of the Gentiles” mean?

THE TRADITIONAL VIEW:
“The term ‘the fullness of the Gentiles’ refers to the present age in which Gentiles predominate in the church and far exceed Israel in present spiritual blessing… the fullness of the Gentiles will be completed when God’s present task of winning Jew and Gentile to Christ is completed.“

A GROWING VIEW:
“The… view held by a number of Messianic and other evangelical believers sees the fullness of the Gentiles as referring to the faithfulness of Gentile believers… Thus the fullness of the Gentiles means Gentile believers will be faithful to fulfill their calling toward Israel: to make Israel jealous.”

ANOTHER POSSIBLE VIEW:
“The ‘fullness of the Gentiles’ is when their (the predominantly Gentile church) disobedience has reached its pinnacle in not sharing the gospel with Jewish people, and God removes them from the earth (through the rapture ) and returns to working through Israel.”

We have not arrived at the point where the church is “not sharing the gospel with Jewish people, and God removes them from the […].”

You continually take words and phrases out of context and just MAKE SHIT. The desire to divine the future is a venerable one, fueling faith in figures from ancient Greek oracles to modern astrologists. Your are no prophet – Let your desire to immulate one go … .

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   6:28:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#29. To: watchman, and Everyone (#25) (Edited)

Repeated Post Deleted ...

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   6:32:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#30. To: watchman, and Everyone (#25) (Edited)

The world is sliding into the Luciferian NWO...we are already there. Dictators are everywhere...here in the usa, certainly Canada, Australia, the UK. [watchman posted on 2021-07-25].

Dictator: noun a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.

Give NAMES and CIRCUMSTANCES. .

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   6:33:25 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#31. To: watchman, and Everyone (#25) (Edited)

If (if!) this is the beginning of the Great Tribulation, well, Covid 19 is just the beginning (of sorrows). By the end of the 7 year Trib there will be only a handful of humans left alive. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved...Matt 24:22a. If you aren't regenerated, now is the time. If you have loved ones, better tell them to believe on Christ, as well. [watchman posted on 2021-07-25].

In Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation (Ancient Greeks a period mentioned by Jesus as a sign that would occur in the time of the end.

When say “if” – and then you stress (if!) – you are introducing a clause on the condition or supposition that may happen or become true. You are preaching doomsday and living in the end times.

Some doomsters are getting all the press these days with a great temptation to appear a prophet and ambassador from heaven. They try to make themselves louder and have their words carry farther and more rapidly. But all they do is add to the general stress and stoke the anger and dismay of people. They also frighten children, sap the nation's spirit, and agitate the nation's mood.

It fully appears it is your bag to do this, watchman – SO GO FOR IT !!!

While I …

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   6:34:37 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#32. To: Gatlin (#26)

imperative that we learn more about how liberals and conservatives differ in values

It is never too late for considering.

Is this what you want us to consider?

Nope. It's too late for considering.

The Age of Grace is coming to a close.

watchman  posted on  2021-07-26   9:18:05 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#33. To: watchman, and Everyone (#32)

It is never too late for considering.

Is this what you want …

Want – No.

But what I would really “LIKE” is for you to get some sense. I however know from your posting history that will probably never happen.

Tragically, you “doomsdayers” continually show whatever can be seen as wrong with all religion. The extreme dogmatism in YOUR religion by the imperiousness when you claim to only know “the way” is abhorrent. You fanatically religious people ignore your intellect, believe blindly – sometimes even to the point of insanity.

Nope. It's too late for considering.

Only for you – Never for me.

"May God have mercy on your soul" is a phrase used within courts in various legal systems by judges pronouncing a sentence of death upon a person found guilty of a crime that requires a death sentence.

With your fatalistic attitude and desire to take the whole world down with you, I can only say: “May Gold have mercy on your soul.”

The Age of Grace is coming to a close.

Then …

I will happily wave to you …

Gatlin  posted on  2021-07-26   11:08:45 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#34. To: Gatlin (#33)

Did you die?

A K A Stone  posted on  2022-01-29   17:34:05 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com