12 Quotes by Albert Marrin

Edward Jenner’s discovery of vaccination drew harsh criticism from the pulpit. Clergymen denounced the doctor for having put himself above God. Only the Almighty, they said, sends illness and only the Almighty cures it. Vaccination, critics charged, was “a diabolical operation,” and its inventor was “flying in the face of Providence.

White Christians often explained the disaster in a time-honored way: it was God’s punishment of humanity for its sings. To the seven deadly sins – anger, greed, lust, envy, pride, laziness, gluttony – they added an eighth sin: ’worshiping science.

When the next pandemic comes, as it surely will someday, perhaps we will be ready to meet it. If we are not, the outcome will be very, very, very dreadful.