An appreciation of humanist values and progress in these dark times. Opinion piece Barking & Dagenham Post 6.5.20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Did you know Barking was a key site of the first recorded plague in England? History helps put today\u2019s crisis in perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Venerable Bede, a medieval author, describes how pestilence struck Barking Abbey in 664 AD, not long after its foundation. The onset coincided with an eclipse. It was believed this was the hand of God at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last bubonic pandemic took place almost exactly 1000 years later. An estimated 100,000 Londoners died in the \u2018Great Plague\u2019 of 1665\/6, a quarter of the then population. \u2018The King\u2019s Rules and Orders for Prevention\u2019<\/em>, preserved in the National Archives, directed monthly fasts and regular prayers \u201cby which means God may be inclined to remove his severe hand both buy ambien<\/a> from amongst you and us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our current situation is dreadful. But at least it can be addressed through calm and rational understanding of the true cause of disease without the blind panic, quack remedies and superstition of the past.\u00a0 We should celebrate the advances in sciences such as evolution, genetics and microbiology which make this possible. They are all due solely to human ingenuity and curiosity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We now know pandemics occur regularly and are not supernatural. Human intervention based on science, collective effort and cooperation offer hope and the best chance of ameliorating them. The front-line role played by those like NHS and shop staff, delivery drivers and cleaners is crucial. The weekly communal tribute to their work is a profoundly moving expression of enlightened human values and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Kaufman An appreciation of humanist values and progress in these dark times. Opinion piece Barking & Dagenham Post 6.5.20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9c4oP-yO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2159,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions\/2159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Chair East London Humanists<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"