No Jab, Freedom Rallies and Wealth

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
No Jab, Freedom Rallies and Wealth
Monday 22nd November, 2021

Jabless and Jobless

As at last week around 1300 medical staff and an estimated 700 teachers have been stood down in NZ after failing to comply with the government’s vaccine mandate effective from the 15th November. That represents about 1.5% of the health sector work force and 1% of the education workforce. In other words 98.5% of doctors and nurses and 99% of teachers went back to their jobs last week as they have always done.

POV. Context is everything. The stories of people who have been stood down or let go are heart breaking. These are people who are highly trained and dedicated to their respective professions. I am the first to agree it’s tough…….very very tough. It’s hard to imagine the upheaval to life. But getting sick with Covid or worse still putting others at risk of getting covid because of my unvaccinated state is for me unconscionable.

As Hadyen Donnell rightly points out. “In reality, these staff aren’t being forced out of their jobs. They can stay employed if they get a safe, effective, rigorously studied vaccine that’s available at most GP offices or pharmacies. Whatever they say about their motives, they’re being stood down for not fulfilling their duty to protect the vulnerable people in their care. It needs to be repeated: vaccines reduce people's chance of catching Covid-19. The entire reason the vaccine mandates exist is to reduce infection risk for vulnerable people”.

Freedom Rallies and Four Gangs

There was an incredible irony in the TV1 News bulletin on Saturday night just gone. At the Freedom Rally in Auckland Brian Tamaki once again railed against the Government while at the exact same time in Tokoroa four gangs put aside their differences and with the help of local health providers urged their whanau to come to the park and get vaccinated. Both were Maori, yet with such drastically different messages. A Christian leader angry about this and that and four gang leaders getting jabbed and then encouraging their whanau to do the same. You can see the 5 minute segment here. The segment starts at 5.30mins and is available on demand for another 5 days.

A Two Class Society

Max Rashbrooke has a new book out with the intriguing title, ‘Too Much Money’. I’ve read and heard some commentary about this book and now I will order it and add to my summer reading pile. Max is Senior Associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. He has written extensively on this subject. He says in a hard hitting article titled ‘A classless society? Don't make me laugh’. “these disparities start with wealth. Just 1 per cent of New Zealanders – roughly 40,000 people – control a quarter of all assets. The business world is especially lopsided: that 1 per cent owns seven out of every 10 shares”. He goes on talking about the disparities in NZ around opportunity, “Over a period of several years, when the University of Canterbury took 2000 students into its first-year engineering course, just one was from a decile-one college”.

POV. I find all this very challenging. I and most of you reading this piece are ‘wealthy’. I’ve known that for a long time. I’m ever so grateful for what I have yet at the same time I am troubled, deeply troubled at what is going on in NZ and the growing disparity that is occurring right before our eyes. As Churches and as Christians we do what we can, it’s part of our DNA. But Rashbrooke (and others) talk about structural inequality, about macroeconomic policy and about a growing disparity that is creating a two class society, the haves and the have nots. This needs, I would suggest, a whole new response and one that we must do together if we are to see any change to a trend that is already well and truly deeply immersed in our society here in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.