What was scheduled as an hour-long chapel service last Wednesday has turned into a multi-day revival at Asbury University. Current employees may initiate a religious exemption request within the vaccination verification system. "I have a religious exemption." "Great. The Awaken Church lists this as the most notably significant reason why the acceptance of these vaccines would be considered sinful.. You are right. While not Jesuss body was made impure by his crucifixion in fact, thats a considerable part of the point. I came up in the Church of Christ in the '60s, so I know about religious exemptions. be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. I have family members in that camp. KUOW's Deborah Wang attended one of their . Instead, she did independent study and looked up sources online. She then quotes 2 Corinthians 7 out of context and assumes a vaccine will contaminate her. Whatever reasons a person may have for refusing vaccination, it is important to resist the temptation to endow those reasons with religious significance merely as a strategy for securing exemption from an employer mandate. Its biblicalanthropology. These deficient exemption requests tend to fall into three categories of objections: personal autonomy, my body is a temple, or abortion complicity. Is mandatory COVID-19 vaccination ethical? I would never sign off on someones religiousconvictions. We would like to bring to the readers attention our perspective and experience on these important issues as they navigate these difficult questions. In its most robust form, such an exemption might rely on a provision within a churchs confessional statement explicitly forbidding vaccines or other medical interventions. God hasnt mandated seatbelts, either. That means they mix and prepare a drug at the pharmacy. I just dont get these arguments. There are no major religions in the United States that are officially opposed to the COVID vaccine, Evans said. Logically, a Christian does not have solid ground upon which to stand to claim the non-J&J vaccines are tied to an immoral abortion. 7) The Bible has a clear warning against taking anything that might alter your mind, make you hallucinate, or dream strange visions. My Body Is a Temple I've seen 1 Corinthians 6:19 quoted in countless vaccine exemption requests. Indeed, courts are already rebuffing COVID-related religious-exemption requests, creating a harmful precedent that will be used against Christians in future cases. Rajesh, would you prefer I describe them as foolish () and needing to act like men ()? Various news outlets explain this connection is distant and far removed, and that the vaccines themselves dont contain fetal tissue. The issue of food sacrificed to an idol does not actually affect one's interactive relationship with the Lord. John Evans is a professor of sociology and religious studies at UCSD. Statement of Religious Exemption. Another popular search during the pandemic was Jeremiah 29:11, which says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm . Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit, in regeneration and sanctification, when he begins the good work of grace on a man, takes possession of his whole person, soul and body, and dwells therein as in his temple. Unless you're a member of a Dutch Reformed church or a Christian Science church, making a claim for a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine as a Christian is going to be hard to prove.. A Christian must have a rational basis for claiming a conscience objection. A vaccine cannot go against Pauls exhortation, because it is not what goes into us that defiles us, but the sin that emerges from our hearts. If you're heartsick over racial injustice. But others will not, and their prudential judgement still follows the religious teaching of the Catholic Faith. Therefore, Psalm 91 says if we make and say (Mark 11:23,24) that the Lord is our refuge and fortress then no pestilence or plague or evil shall come near our dwelling. We dont possess ourselves but are ourselves possessed by him (1 Cor 6:20). They may feel the policy unnecessarily overreaching or discriminatory, or perhaps presumptuous and hasty. As an ethicist and attorney practicing religious liberty law, we have engaged in dozens of conversations over the past few weeks regarding vaccination mandates, as well as religious exemptions. If a Christian is going to feel dirty by being vaccinated, thats the one toavoid. Kirschner and others have concerns that people may try to misuse religious exemptions to avoid employer and government vaccine mandates, exposing loved ones to the virus. 4 Liberty Counsel, Sample Religious Exemption Requests For COVID Shot Mandates, 26 July 2021, p. 3. https://lc.org/Site%20Images/Resources/Memo-SampleCOVID-ReligiousExemptionRequests-07262021.pdf. Man will conquer nature. Please think very carefully before answering this question. AR-15-style weapons have been used in some of the deadliest shootings in modern U.S. history. All rights reserved, San Diego and California's COVID-19 Emergency Declarations Expire Tuesday. Religious liberty is precious and should be protected. None of these drugs have had any safety studies done, nor are they approved by the FDA. Under current law, thats enough for employers to turn them down. This kind of bible interpretation can justify anything, and itsdangerous. It is worth considering the implications of Pauls words if they did mean what those seeking exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine take them to mean. Even many of the objector's coreligionists don't agree with him. Im not arguing Christians should be vaccinated, or that Christians should necessarily acquiesce to employer vaccine mandates. (That the Court sided against religious objectors in this case may have to do with the fact that it concerned members of the Native American Church who had been denied unemployment benefits after they were fired for consuming peyote in a religious ritual.) Some vaccines were developed using fetal cell lines from aborted fetuses, she wrote, citing a remote connection to a practice she finds abhorrent. Supposedly thats actually a known side effect but who knows. A relevant ethical question, drawn from scriptural teaching of the value of our bodies and treating them rightly, is whether vaccines harm the body. Courts have consistently rejected religious exemption requests premised on moral values common to all religions (not to mention nonreligious worldviews). "There's also a general kind of theological belief in the sovereignty of God, that He is the one who knows best. I can't even think about it.". This is perhaps the strongest religious exemption of the lot. Employers must grant the religious accommodation request so long as doing so does not pose an undue burden to the employer, either economic or non-economic. Some Christians claim the various COVID vaccines have a connection to abortion. In the active duty Army, 2,910 permanent religious exemptions have been requested, with 266. And while each person is free to live according to their sincerely held beliefs, Christians, in particular, should consider the call of Christ when weighing our decisions. One way to be introspective here is to consider whether you were already against the vaccine before you learned about the abortionnexus. "The most notable example was during the Vietnam and Korean [wars], people claiming religious exemptions from the draft.. Many are not, and every ridiculous fight over an spurious religious objection does more harm to religious liberty than many measures fromsecularists. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. Couple that with the massive disinformation peddled at their reading level and I can understand why manyrefuse. Should Christian Parents Send Their Children to Public Schools? The likelihood of the cell line coming from an elective (immoral) abortion is extremely low, because elective abortions were illegal in The Netherlands at that time and it would have been almost impossible for the scientists who developed the HEK293 cell line to have acquired them from an elective abortion. If you dont want the vaccine then put on your big boy pants and take the consequences instead of blaming God for not getting thevaccine. But producing high-quality, independent work is not cost-free , If you found the piece above useful, informative, or inspiring, please consider supporting, To donate by check, phone, bitcoin, or other method, see our, Bernie Sanders Reintroduces PRO Act as Labor Activity Is on the Rise, Nebraska Democrat Vows to Filibuster All Bills Until Anti-Trans Bill Is Defeated, Immigrants Win Unprecedented Settlement Over Violent ICE Workplace Raid, The Nuclear War in Ukraine May Not Be the One We Expect, Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism. When the Bible is placed in the hands of the people, void of any kind of authoritative religious community to guide them in their proper understanding of the text, the people can make it say. Evans said the threshold for religious exemptions comes down to proving whether the person attempting to obtain one has sincerely held beliefs against getting vaccinated on religious grounds. There may be people that think that Paul is talking about the Corinthians as a whole in this passage, but that is the wronginterpretation. Perhaps this goes too far. Thus, a strong religious exemption would be based on recognized scriptural precept or a particular church or traditions confession or teaching. For those of us who arent Christian Scientists, this isnt enough. As an ordained pastor of (Name of Church), I am writing to affirm (name of individual) sincerely held religious objection to any voluntary or mandatory Covid-19 . Look anywhere, and you'll find professing Christians using God as justification for their unholy ways. Placebos over the last two decades have increasingly gotten better during Clinical Trials. I think its really important to remember that the Christian right is part of a larger conservative movement, Elizabeth Reiner Platt, one of the reports authors, told Truthout. The average American has a 7th-8th grade reading level. Even the pope says that is a more extreme condition than what is actually necessary, Evans told NBC 7. This is a violation of the ThirdCommandment. And yet, Paul sees no reason for this to cause strife: We are Gods servants, working together; you are Gods building. Paul and Apollos cooperate in building on the foundation that Christ himself laid. I mean, a cold for him is a big deal," Kirschner said. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Theres more at stake here than whether any particular religious exemption request is approved or denied (no doubt many employers are rubber-stamping these simply to avoid labor shortages). 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