{"id":2851,"date":"2021-09-17T20:47:28","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T00:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/?p=2851"},"modified":"2021-10-02T16:40:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T20:40:44","slug":"what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/","title":{"rendered":"What religious groups oppose vaccination — even during epidemics?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

THE QUESTION:<\/p>\n

What religious groups oppose vaccination \u2014 even during epidemics?<\/p>\n

THE RELIGION GUY\u2019S ANSWER:<\/p>\n

Judges and public officials will be coping with the issue of vaccination mandates that President Biden, states and employers are imposing to counter spread of the stubbornly contagious and virulent COVID-19 virus. This again raises the issue of religious-liberty claims for exemption from required vaccination.<\/p>\n

Pastor Greg Locke of the independent Global Vision Bible Church in suburban Nashville, Tennessee, has just been permanently banned from social media postings on Twitter after demanding that Christians shun vaccination (as well as preaching that Biden is a usurper and not a legitimately elected president).<\/p>\n

And the Washington Post <\/em>highlighted Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer of Tulsa, Oklahoma (who\u2019s running against devoutly evangelical U.S. Senator James Lankford in next year\u2019s Republican primary). Lahmeyer offers exemption letters for anyone who donates at least $1 to become an online member of his charismatic Sheridan Church. So far 30,000 supplicants have downloaded his exemption letter.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s new policy has already sparked a significant upswing in religious exemption requests. So, what are the facts on religious groups and opposition to vaccination?<\/p>\n

A bit of history: Major religious objections arose with the first vaccination experiments in the American Colonies. But influential Congregationalist Cotton Mather championed scientific progress and defended smallpox experiments using adult volunteers. Eminent theologian Jonathan Edwards agreed and set an example as a vaccination volunteer when president of the school we know as Princeton University. He died as a result in 1758. Edward Jenner only achieved vaccination safety 38 years later.<\/p>\n

Since then, official Christian or Jewish protests have generally been rare to non-existent as vaccinations are required to enter U.S. public schools, military service or particular jobs, or for foreign travel. Even a major Pentecostal<\/a> group like the Church of God in Christ, which emphasizes faith healing through prayer, simultaneously endorses modern medicine, including vaccination.<\/p>\n

Douglas Laycock of the University of Virginia Law School states that \u201cno major organized religious group has officially discouraged the [COVID] vaccine and many, like the Catholic Church, have explicitly encouraged them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis Chang of Christians and the Vaccine and Duke Divinity School wrote in The New York Times <\/em>that \u201cthere is no actual religious basis for exemptions from vaccine mandates in any established stream of Christianity,\u201d and people seeking religious exemptions \u201crarely even try to offer substantive biblical and theological reasoning.\u201d He wants private employers, and the clergy, to oppose all religious exemptions.<\/p>\n

Tiny anti-medical cults do exist, and some Amish believers who shun modern ways may object. An anonymous Buddhist<\/a> student at the University of Colorado medical school joined a federal lawsuit against the school\u2019s vaccine policy that grants exceptions only to defined religious systems whereas he as an individual shuns \u201cproducts developed through the killing or harming of animals (including human beings).\u201d<\/p>\n

But the chief exception to the rule is Christian Science, which departs from mainstream Christian theology. Its foundational teaching, in Mary Baker Eddy\u2019s \u201cScience and Health with Key to the Scriptures,\u201d says that \u201cman is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones and other material elements.\u201d Belief in the \u201cfalsity of all material things\u201d means \u201cevery disease is an error\u201d of \u201cmortal mind\u201d that is overcome by \u201cdivine Mind,\u201d the only reality. Consequently, Eddy defined smallpox epidemics as \u201cmental contagion\u201d caused by \u201cmortal mind,\u201d not by matter, which does not exist.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Christian Scientists have naturally lobbied for legal exemptions from vaccination and most other medical treatments. Amid the COVID crisis, a January item in the official Christian Science Sentinel<\/em> was flexible, saying \u00a0that when vaccination is required \u201cour compliance with the law wouldn\u2019t need to compromise our reliance upon God\u201d for authentic health.<\/p>\n

With Judaism, there was a serious 2019 measles outbreak among strict Orthodox communities in Israel and the New York City area where many\u00a0 shunned vaccinations. The city exacted fines and closed some religious schools. Significantly, vaccination was urged by rabbinical authorities, the Yiddish-language newspaper Der Yid<\/em>, and \u201cTorah true\u201d organizations such as Agudath Israel, United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, and the Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association.<\/p>\n

This demonstrated the prior observation in the academic journal Vaccine<\/em> that outbreaks within religious groups stem from \u201ca social network of people organized around a faith community, rather than theologically-based objections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, some Christian pro-lifers raise concerns because COVID-19 vaccine projects employ stem cell lines from human fetuses that were aborted decades ago. A group of anonymous Christian health-care staffers cited this as the basis for a pending federal lawsuit against New York, among the few states that do not allow religious exemptions.<\/p>\n

Despite Catholicism\u2019s staunch opposition to abortion, Pope Francis urges vaccination on the love-thy-neighbor principle. The Vatican\u2019s doctrine office accepts Covid vaccination because the abortion connection is \u201cremote\u201d and no \u201cformal cooperation\u201d with abortion is involved. But if choice is possible the church favors the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, where fetal cell lines were used only in testing, over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, where such cells are used in production. (Vaccines as such contain no fetal cells.)<\/p>\n

Under American law, exemption is granted on the basis of the individual\u2019s sincere belief, even if that person\u2019s religious group favors vaccination. Harvard Law School\u2019s Noah Feldman thinks religious sincerity is too difficult for judges to assess. He takes a laissez-faire approach. Courts \u201cshould let people decide for themselves what they actually believe, not second-guess them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Professor Laycock, a religious-liberty proponent who usually defends conscience exemptions, thinks matters turn quite different with a public health crisis where unvaccinated people bring harm to others. He thinks government should need a \u201ccompelling interest\u201d to interfere with religious rights (current Supreme Court doctrine disagrees) and that\u2019s the case with mandates aimed at \u201csaving lives, preventing serious illness, or preserving hospital capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He notes that prior to an August temporary restraining order against Western Michigan University, which mandated vaccination for athletes but not other students, no state or federal court had ever granted a religious exemption when government cited \u201ccompelling interest\u201d n order to require vaccination. The prime Supreme Court precedent on this government power [in Jacobson v. Massachusetts] has held for 116 years.<\/p>\n

There is, of course, an influential secular movement against vaccination. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss of the University of California\u2019s Hastings law college says though it\u2019s difficult to assess sincerity there is \u201cno reason to think most, or even a large share, of religious exemption requests to Covid-19 vaccines are from people whose opposition is religious. . . . Granting exemptions on the basis of religion incentivizes these people to lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination \u2014 even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY\u2019S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping with the issue of vaccination mandates that President Biden, states and employers are imposing to counter spread of the stubbornly contagious and virulent COVID-19 virus. This again raises the issue of religious-liberty claims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1275,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics?\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics?\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Q & A\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-18T00:47:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-02T20:40:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Ostling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Ostling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/\",\"name\":\"What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics?\u00a0\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-18T00:47:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-02T20:40:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#\/schema\/person\/3185166e28ea37f37d990cca42029af7\"},\"description\":\"THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What religious groups oppose vaccination — even during epidemics?\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Q & A\",\"description\":\"The Ridgewood Religion Guy answers your questions\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#\/schema\/person\/3185166e28ea37f37d990cca42029af7\",\"name\":\"Richard Ostling\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07dee17eaf5d4d7bd229ace9c6cf1c74?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07dee17eaf5d4d7bd229ace9c6cf1c74?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Ostling\"},\"description\":\"Richard N. Ostling, a religion writer for the Associated Press, was formerly senior correspondent for Time magazine, where he wrote twenty-three cover stories and was the religion writer for many years. He has also covered religion for the CBS Radio Network and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS-TV.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/author\/religionqanda\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics?\u00a0","description":"THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics?\u00a0","og_description":"THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/","og_site_name":"Religion Q & A","article_published_time":"2021-09-18T00:47:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-02T20:40:44+00:00","author":"Richard Ostling","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Ostling","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/","name":"What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics?\u00a0","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-18T00:47:28+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-02T20:40:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#\/schema\/person\/3185166e28ea37f37d990cca42029af7"},"description":"THE QUESTION: What religious groups oppose vaccination -- even during epidemics? THE RELIGION GUY'S ANSWER: Judges and public officials will be coping","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/2021\/09\/what-religious-groups-oppose-vaccination-even-during-epidemics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What religious groups oppose vaccination — even during epidemics?\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/","name":"Religion Q & A","description":"The Ridgewood Religion Guy answers your questions","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#\/schema\/person\/3185166e28ea37f37d990cca42029af7","name":"Richard Ostling","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07dee17eaf5d4d7bd229ace9c6cf1c74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/07dee17eaf5d4d7bd229ace9c6cf1c74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Richard Ostling"},"description":"Richard N. Ostling, a religion writer for the Associated Press, was formerly senior correspondent for Time magazine, where he wrote twenty-three cover stories and was the religion writer for many years. He has also covered religion for the CBS Radio Network and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS-TV.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/author\/religionqanda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionqanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}