“As I hope all will be able to see, there is an immensely strong scientific and moral case to be made for the end of the current masking mandates, and which if not acted upon, will result in the continued long-run degradation and disgrace of America’s medical institutions, and the perpetuation of political tyrannies which actively threaten the very civil and religious liberties which we hold dear.”
At the PLI, our mission is to mobilize Christians to oppose civil tyranny through the proclamation, implementation, and defense of Christ's perfect law of liberty (James 1:25); in order to successfully complete this mission, PLI must be actively setting an example of such biblical resistance for students, followers, and onlookers to imitate in their own lives. One of PLI's most recent attempts to lead by such an example was an attempt to resist the masking policies of a local hospital system where I, Richard Ortman, the founder of PLI, and my elderly grandfather participate in boxing classes designed to treat Parkinson's disease. These boxing classes are filled entirely with middle to upper age individuals suffering from Parkinson's, often possessing multiple comorbidities and age related hearing and vision loss. The classes consist of a speech therapy portion, followed by an warm-up exercise session, and concluding with a coached boxing session. In such an environment, the absurdities of the scientific and moral irrationalities of continued masking policies are in exaggerated display; elderly Parkinson's patients, suffering from injury to their mental comprehension and speech, in addition to age related hearing loss, are put through speech therapy classes where both the instructors and the patients are mandated to cover their faces with masks. For emphasis, the aforementioned will be re-stated: elderly Parkinson's patients, who already have difficulty hearing, seeing, comprehending, and speaking, are being treated with speech therapy procedures while both they, and the instructors, are mandated to cover their faces, the very human interface which visually communicates immense amounts of important physical information to a person who is attempting to listen and interact with another human, let alone attempting to receive therapy for declining speech, hearing, and comprehension capabilities.
… “asinine” is about the only word fitting for the fact that the staff and patients with Parkinson’s in the Rock Steady boxing class are being forced to cover their mouths during both speech therapy and the physical therapy exercises.
– from “Objections to Current Firelands’ Covid-19 Masking Policies” Material
Given that these classes are voluntary, private pay classes, I made the decision to take as diplomatic approach as possible in resisting the institution's policies; I decided to enlist the support and participation of all patients of the particular boxing class session that my grandfather and I attended. In doing this, the hope was to rally the voice of the people and simply serve them, the patients, as well as the patients and employees of the broader institution, in lifting up their unified conscience and voice on the matter. In order to enable the most success of such an appeal to the patients to join in such a petition, I prepared a document of prioritized, detailed objections to continued masking policies; these objections were all rooted in what I determined to be the most pressing arguments from sound science, sound reasoning, and the moral nature of things. It is my hope that this document, as well as the additional cover letters and page of signed petition, all included in the packet of material that I submitted to the Firelands' leadership staff, can be used by others in their attempts at diplomatic resistance in their local communities. All of these documents, some redacted to protect personal information, can be found below in the "Document Downloads" section.
“… this is why your participation in this petition is of such great importance. When leaders and decision makers face formidable forces of authority from above them, they regularly will give in to their demands, even if the demands are morally wrong or scientifically unsound, simply because such leaders lack a base of known support that has their back in resistance to the demands. Through this plan of petition, you have the opportunity to become such a base of support for the Firelands’ leaders”
After submitting the materials for petition to the patients of the class, including any relevant care-taking family members, it was with great joy celebration that every single active participant of the class at the time, including their caretakers, all agreed to the idea of removing the mask policy, and submitted their forms of petition back to me. Upon receipt of their voices of petition, I produced a letter that introduced our class's shared grievance over the masking policy and our materials of petition to the Director of Physical & Occupational Therapy, Dr. Shelly Jordan, whom I had been instructed was the individual to speak with directly about the masking policies. Throughout the process of my investigation and questioning of Firelands' staff regarding their policy setting procedures, the administrative staff were always cordial and receptive to my attempts at discourse and challenges to the policies being set by the institution's leaders; they routinely provided me with the best answers they had, even though none of them were agreeable to sound science, reason, or the moral nature of things, and they facilitated my requests of escalation up to the directors and leaders of their institution.
Unfortunately in the end, though our class's voice of petition was reviewed and considered by multiple individuals within leadership of Firelands Health Systems, as can be read in their response letter included below, their final decision was a disappointing abdication of their professional and moral duties to commit to acting in a manner consistent with sound science, reason, and moral considerations. They falsely insinuate "agreement" between the cohort of patients and families who object to their mask policy, speaking as if the patients and their family's objections to their policies don't actually stand to refute and invalidate any alleged "supporting" research for the use of masks; the entire purpose of the included objection material was to assert that any alleged "supporting" research or argumentation for mask uses is either invalid, unsound in its conclusions, or out-weighed and invalidated by higher considerations. The entire purpose of the petition was to make known that the patients and their families of the Parkinson's boxing class are NOT in "agreement" with the utilized support and argumentation for continued masking policies. Under the light of all of the objections and considerations presented in the materials of petition that we submitted, this loose wording of "agreement", combined with their decision to double down on the completely irrational and logically fallacious belief that their mask policy will "protect" their "patients and staff", puts on full display their commitment to walking in irrationality, their scientific unprofessionalism, their medical tyranny over their patients, their perpetuation of immoral civil acts of government, and their failure to live up to their assertion of providing "quality medical care" [2].
Unfortunately in the end, though our class's voice of petition was reviewed and considered by multiple individuals within leadership of Firelands Health Systems, as can be read in their response letter included below, their final decision was a disappointing abdication of their professional and moral duties to commit to acting in a manner consistent with sound science, reason, and moral considerations. They falsely insinuate "agreement" between the cohort of patients and families who object to their mask policy, speaking as if the patients and their family's objections to their policies don't actually stand to refute and invalidate any alleged "supporting" research for the use of masks; the entire purpose of the included objection material was to assert that any alleged "supporting" research or argumentation for mask uses is either invalid, unsound in its conclusions, or out-weighed and invalidated by higher considerations. The entire purpose of the petition was to make known that the patients and their families of the Parkinson's boxing class are NOT in "agreement" with the utilized support and argumentation for continued masking policies. Under the light of all of the objections and considerations presented in the materials of petition that we submitted, this loose wording of "agreement", combined with their decision to double down on the completely irrational and logically fallacious belief that their mask policy will "protect" their "patients and staff", puts on full display their commitment to walking in irrationality, their scientific unprofessionalism, their medical tyranny over their patients, their perpetuation of immoral civil acts of government, and their failure to live up to their assertion of providing "quality medical care" [2].
“The hospital leaders above have reviewed your information and agree that research regarding this matter can be found supporting both sides regarding mask use. Ultimately, in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19 our facility is following the recommended CDC standards and will continue to do so with the main objective to protect our patients and staff.” – Firelands Staff
Though this diplomatic attempt at resistance to the Devil has been unsuccessful, the Devil being the one who is truly the one blinding the minds of individuals who are committed to walking in such irrationalities (2 Corinthians 4:4), since such irrationality are contrary to sound doctrine in accordance with the Gospel of Christ (1 Timothy 1:8-11), I, my peers, and supporters of PLI will continue to advance and escalate the cause of our fight to "take every thought captive to obey Christ"; as it pertains specifically to the fallacious science, flawed reasoning, and abdication of moral duty being perpetuated in America's medical institutions at the expense of the dignity and humanity of their patients. In the meantime, while a new paths of resistance are being determined, we hope our diplomatic attempt at this fight, and the materials provided below, can be an encouragement and stepping stone for others in their fight against the beasts of civil tyranny that are growing around them.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” – 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
Document Downloads
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UPDATE: Since submitting the materials of petition to Firelands' leadership, the CDC county infection rate for Erie county Ohio has been lowered to "low", and subsequently Firelands has adjusted their masking policy to 'voluntary'. Though this is a welcome breath of relief and worthy of momentary celebration, there is no evidence that the underlying irrationality, fallacious science, and immoral positions have in any way been corrected or acted upon. For this reason, I, and my institution, PLI, in partnership with my peers and neighbors, will continue to escalate and seek alternate routes of resistance and protest so that the true underlying values can be brought forward until adopted, in order to secure a social fabric that fends off future attempts at such tyrannies.
ADDENDUM: Citation [7] in the "Objections to Current Firelands' Covid-19 Masking Poilcies" is no longer an accurate citation due to changes made to the Firelands' website. The original quote cited, "Visitors entering any Firelands Health facility will be required to mask. Surgical masks will be provided.", can no longer be found on the linked web page [1], nor can the original statements made about Covid-19 and the Firelands' mask policy. The reason for this change is unknown; perhaps it is simply because of the adjustment to the masking policies per the current CDC guidance, or it is a result of the specific challenges made to surgical masks in PLI's submitted petition material. Whatever the case, evidence of this quoted statement can still be seen in the photograph still present on the "Safety Measures" page for Firelands Health Systems, in which the majority of the staff is pictured wearing only surgical masks:
