The Holy-Safety Religion

We are witnessing the rise of a new religion: the Religion of Safety. It has gradually, insidiously, established itself in recent decades when more and more natural things began to be considered dangerous.

Before having the weather channel online 24/7, a summer storm was a summer storm; now has hazard codes: yellow, orange, red. Same for wind, cold, heat, etc. We see risks everywhere in the natural events of life. Now, with the pandemic, the new religion has spread even more in our minds, at a faster speed than that of the coronavirus infecting New York City. 

It has its priests – those who cut out only the dangers of reality every day and show us how great they are (but, above all, they will be!) them. It has its inquisitors, those who can no longer burn you at the stake, but who can lynch you on social media if you have violated the rituals of (self)protection, an even your own militia, enforcing your before through shame and fines. I man shameful fines…

A natural need to feel safe has turned into a religion! it has more and more followers:

- some, because they can justify their own fears,

- others because through it they can shed their hatred and frustrations, and
- others, because they can obtain fraudulent but fabulous gains from it.

The excessive cult of safety, however, can be disastrous, both for the individual and for society. 

The more we choose safety over freedom, the slower we grow. We end up protecting ourselves, at increasing cost, an increasingly worthless lifestyle. Therefore, the transformation of safety from a need into a cult must be countered by critical thinking. And an invitation to an open public debate without being bullied by the political correctness entities, now disguised into a public health saviors.  

And we should do this now, before ending up into getting collectively an obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is going to ruins our lives, careers and meaningful relationships. 

The cult of safety undermines the Great Commission from Matthew 28 - Go ye and make disciple. "Oh Pastor, is this safe? Physically, intellectually, emotionally, totally 100% safe?" What kind of question is this one? Was this question inserted in Jesus' plan of save the world? Did He ever mentioned safety in relationship with salvation and Christian mission? 

The cult of safety slows down learning and innovation. To learn, we have to experiment, to have the courage to do things. Obviously, we will often be wrong. But as cognitive science tells us, we learn much more and faster from a mistake than from success. Mistakes are unpleasant but useful, because they are the basis of learning and innovation.

When you make an airplane with way too many safety measures, the plane becomes safe, but it can't get off the ground. People and societies are the same. Some want to be like tanks chasing out rabbits from a carrot patch. Others prefer to be like airplanes: to be able to fly, even if the risks are high. We have a choice ahead of us: what do we want to be, tanks or airplanes? 

I prefer flying.