The Virus – A Pagan Sci-Fi

(A fictional short story inspired by the Australian lockdowns of 2021)

Statue of Mercury at Pavlovsk Park
Image by Aleksandrov (Wikimedia Commons)

The television turned itself on because it was time to get up. She lay in bed half-listening to journalists speaking in serious tones about various things, none of it was any more consequential than the faint sound of cars swooshing past on the busy road near her apartment until the voice of one man said sternly “what’s wrong with mandatory vaccinations?” Two men spoke to each other on the television, one was a union leader complaining about “right-wing extremists” hijacking a protest that had happened the day before – he explained that it wasn’t the case that workers were protesting against their own union for not pushing back against a government mandate that all tradies be vaccinated. What had actually happened was professional protestors had turned up and impersonated tradies … even so, the official union position was to support choice. The journalist on the State-run morning show chided the union boss for suggesting that adults should have the right to choose whether or not to be vaccinated.

The Priests Are in Charge and It Feels Dystopian

"Abbot Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rance"
by Hyacinthe Rigaud (17th century)

Earlier this month every Australian was required to fill in the 4 year census. When it came to answering the question in relation to religion the form displays “no religion” as the first choice, because “no religion” was the single most popular answer to this question in the last census – 30.1% of Australians giving this answer in 2016 (followed by Catholic at 22.6% and Anglican at 13.3%; all other religions were at less than 4% each). In theory Australia is a fairly irreligious nation, but in practice the quasi-religion of Scientism is wildly popular. 

Science is the “the systematic study of ... the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” (Oxford Dictionary) – it is a method by which hypotheses can be either plausibly dreamt up or validated. Scientism is an “excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge” (Oxford), and there now seems to be a large body of people professing to hold such sacred knowledge. They are our “experts” (typically scientists and doctors of one kind or another) who are more than willing to present themselves as the true holders of the only kind of knowledge worth having any faith in. The worst among them are the de facto astrologers and haruspices of our time – these priests of our secular age who tell us they know how to confidently predict, via the magic of modelling, variable and unpredictable things, such as controlling the spread of a highly contagious virus. 

Social Media Blitz

Roman Forum in 2011 (image is my own, as used on my Facebook page)

Just a quick post to let you know that I have deleted the Facebook page (called “Neo Polytheist”) associated with this blog, in case you’re wondering where it went. Reason being that I recently deleted just about all of my social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, etc) and I can’t run a Facebook page without a Facebook account. Although social media can be very useful I feel my journey with it has run its course. 

If, for whatever reason, you ever want to get in contact with me please leave a comment at the end of any blogpost, even if it is unrelated to the post itself. I’m very happy to respond to (polite and civilised) comments, questions and observations. 

If you have questions about Roman polytheism and are still on Facebook I recommend joining the group “Cultus Deorum: Religio Romana (original)”, I learnt a lot in this group during my first few years of exploring Roman polytheism and I am very grateful to some of the people I engaged with there. I also quite like the “Roman Religion Reformists Group”.