Thats one reason why I go out of my way to keep the amount of any kind of medicine I take to an absolutely minimum. If we take Pauls words seriously, our main concern shouldnt be the physical purity of our own bodies, but the purity of our witness to the world around us. Here is a sample of a Religious Exemption letter. The Amish or Jehovahs Witness are examples. But while this objection is coherent and religious, its usually deployed too selectively to qualify as sincerely held. It was just an illustration of a bigger problem: People say things that arent true to cast an issue in a differentlight. In . It read, inpart: Accordingly I believe, pursuant to my Christian faith, that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I once had a friend who was a believer in my church. It is a God-given responsibility and requirement for me to protect the physical integrity of my Body against unclean food andinjections.[3]. It means that a simple data point was overlooked, surely not intentionally, but even unintentionally it left an impression that isnt true. Religious freedom is a core value in the United States. If the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a body that has been contaminated by chemicals or debilitated by injury (let alone in a body injected with a safe and effective vaccine), then countless people who have fallen victim to natural or manmade disasters would be bereft of the presence of God. What is said in 1 Corinthians 3:16 of the saints in general, is here said of their bodies in particular. I came up in the Church of Christ in the '60s, so I know about religious exemptions. Some 24% of white evangelicals said in June they wouldnt be vaccinated, down from 26% in March, according to a study from the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan group that studies the intersection of religion and public life, and Interfaith Youth Core, a nonprofit focused on interfaith cooperation. But my passion for religious liberty is exactly why Im concerned about the wave of requests for so-called religious exemptions from employer vaccine mandatesrequests that pastors around the country are being asked to write or approve. White Supremacist Christianity Drives Trumps Loyal Mob. If our non-Christian neighbours come to see us as people who think the rules dont apply to us, or as people for whom the well-being of the wider community is irrelevant, their tolerance for our beliefs is likely to wane. Ill provide one over-arching principle, then briefly discuss some common religious justifications we see offeredup. 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. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768). And when people say things like this, dont be surprised when people dont believeyou. I even only take tylenol/advil/aspirin extremely rarely, let alone other medications, and Im not on any regular medication. But we certainly can explain the known facts to help them understand better, especially if they are being coerced into getting a vaccine they currently believe has immoralorigins. At present, the unvaccinated are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized. Furthermore, refusing vaccination could lead to others experiencing bodily harm as the unvaccinated are at increased risk of transmitting the virus to others. Wrestling with the moral tragedy of vaccines, The problem of an ethically compromised COVID-19 vaccine, Christian ethics and the dilemma of triage during a pandemic, Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. Lost in the weeds was a legal bomb. Religious Exemption. This is a violation of the Third Commandment. Sure he learned about religious practices and, because border was not clear for One organization, called Health Freedom Idaho, published a sample exemption letter on its website that used this objection and cited these passages. Especially in the United States, the belligerent response on the part of many Christians to the public health efforts of the past two years looks rather different from this vision of wisdom. 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. One way to be introspective here is to consider whether you were already against the vaccine before you learned about the abortionnexus. In 1990, the Supreme Court issued a decision called Employment Division v. Smith that essentially concluded that religious entities have to follow laws that apply generally to the rest of the population, even if those laws happen to burden their religious beliefs. Church officials did not respond, however. This objection has a strong siren song, but is harder to justify than it seems. I stand corrected. Pointing to verses from the Bible's Book of Revelation, Maldonado suggested that the coronavirus vaccine would help lay the groundwork for the coming of the Antichrist. If so, then other Christians can rightfully disagree and dismiss her reasoning as fallacious. 6:19. Various news outlets explain this connection is distant and far removed, and that the vaccines themselves dont contain fetal tissue. Moses grew and was educated as a noble among Egyptians (1022). What matters for such a request is whether a worker's belief is religious, not whether it deviates from their church's doctrine or makes logical sense to their employer, attorneys said. Maybe that isnt you. People misuse Gods name for all sorts of sins. Likewise, putting out a fire on ones body is obviously helpful to ones temple. Injecting something into your body that you dont fully understand is a different case. I am one of the. As such, mainstream social and political discourse has begun to stray into theological territory, with uninspiring results. Appealing to a religious accommodation that is not sincerely held and uniformly applied dilutes legal options to appeal to when religious liberty is genuinely threatened in the future. You must think carefully, very carefully, about why you object to the vaccine. But body is a temple actually argues for vaccination. Each of these, it seems, would violate the purity of their bodily temple, making it unsuitable as a vessel for the Holy Spirit. 16. Were proud to publish real news 365 days of the year, completely free of charge to our readers. "There's several different religious beliefs and doctrines associated with evangelicals, especially the belief in inerrancy of scripture, which is the belief that the bible is the literal word of God," Campbell explained. He also affirms in 1 Cor. The concern for physical well-beingwhile certainly validis a concern shared by everyone, religious or not. With that said, many people might be surprised at the number of drugs that are in the marketplace that we have no clarity around what makes them work. The conscience and religious belief belongs to the individual, not another person and not a body (church or otherwise). The Liberty Counsel is a Christian legal ministry. A church in California that has a history of defying pandemic lockdown orders is offering religious exemption letters for people opposed to being vaccinated against COVID-19. 15. While sin has allowed creation to kick back, man still has the ultimately ability and responsibility to subdue it. There are legitimate religious exemptions. And this may come just as Christians are about to need exemptions most. Why not? Here is a representative example from a professing Christian, quoted in the New York Times: My freedom and my childrens freedom and childrens childrens freedom are at stake, said Ms. Holmes, who lives in Indiana. AR-15-style weapons have been used in some of the deadliest shootings in modern U.S. history. According to research by Vanderbilt University, the Dutch Reformed, the Christian Scientists and a few lesser-known faith-healing groups are the only churches operating in the United States that have . But these cell lines were isolated from two fetuses from the Netherlands in 1973 and 1985 and then replicated over decades, and are commonly used to create and test other medications as well. Religious exemption forms have no legal standing The exemption forms being produced by some churches and by Liberty Counsel have no legal standing and do not have to be honored by employers or schools, according to lawyers contacted by BNG for confirmation. Their conscience may still bind them because it is true that no man knows for sure if HEK293 involved an immoral abortion, and we would be wrong to try to convince them otherwise. Jesus and Paul were actually muchharsher. I made the comment, I think, but I probably should have checked itfirst. So we all know that the focus among Christian right law firms has been on culture war issues making sure that marriage equality, LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws, reproductive health laws, dont apply to conservative Christians. 3, Paul is speaking of the Corinthians as a whole as thetemple. Read live, learn and work. Nor the Bill of Rights. The decision could affect everything from traffic laws to racial discrimination. NBC 7 Investigates reached out to the Awaken Church by phone and e-mail multiple times to ask about their religious exemption letters. He also works in State government. I can't even think about it.". God hasnt mandated seatbelts, either. In some cases its deception but, in many cases, its a lack of education. Before you say, he doesnt need to; just trust the experts, how does he know which ones to believe when the internet is telling him that many experts think itsharmful? Theyre either not religious or not sincerely held. But, he must also treat it with respect and care forit. Those statements were made by people (Jesus, Paul) who spoke and/or wrote under infallible and inerrant direction and filling of the Spirit. Those statements were made by people (Jesus, Paul) who spoke and/or wrote under infallible and inerrant direction and filling of the Spirit. The author provides no justification about why the vaccine violates his conscience. According to this letter, if the Spirit has moved you then you have a free passpresumably about anything. A Christian must have a rational basis for claiming a conscience objection. With this article, I will try to write a template for a Religious Exemption Letter, hoping it could be useful. First, Pauls remarks about the body as a temple were directed to the Corinthian church as a body, as a wholethe you are Gods temple is plural! Vaccine mandates have arrived, and so have questions about religious exemptions. But attributing it to cowardice is misguided and unhelpful, and in some cases not even true. I agree. While the case received little attention outside of the legal world, it marked the culmination of more than 30 years of legal strategy by Christian conservatives who have sought ever-broader leeway to flout the law. The real problem is that when Christians present contrived demands for religious exemptions, they risk jeopardizing the whole undertaking. In Isaiah 6:2 it tells us about a vision of heaven: "Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he . Ashli Arbo has been practicing law since 2007 and is a graduate of Union University and Liberty University School of Law. If he has one, hit didnt make it into the newsarticle. The mandated vaccine, with its numerous additives and its mechanism for altering my body, is the equivalent of a prohibited unclean food that causes harm to my conscience. Lets start with the basics. she does need to demonstrate how / why Scripture demands that conclusion (if she wants to be taken seriously by other Christians). This argument is a non-starter. More, 901 Commerce Street, Suite 550 Religious freedom is an exceedingly important value, and it is a constitutional right recognized in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. One common refrain among those seeking exemption from vaccination is the assertion, My body is a temple. 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. 29 times more likely to be hospitalized. Photo by Jay Yoo, John Evans is a professor of sociology and religious studies at UCSD. You are right that in 1 Cor. The difference is that you dont have people screaming that blood pressure medication has computer chips, aborted fetal cells, changes your DNA, safety was skipped.. This is perhaps the strongest religious exemption of the lot. You may object and cite an abortion connection, freedom of conscience, and the like. If food is sacrificed to demons, then thats a pretty good reason to avoid eating it (1 Cor 8). Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Religious liberty is precious and should be protected. Tyler Robbins is a bi-vocational pastor at Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church, in Olympia WA. And in Washington state, some 3,800 state workers are have requested religious exemptions to Gov. The ABCs Religion and Ethics portal is home to religious reporting & analysis, ethical discussion & philosophical discovery, and inspiring stories of faith and belief. There is a scriptural case to be made for not taking this vaccine. One Christian named Curtis Chang, who is a former pastor, wrote what Yosemite Sam would consider to be fightinwords: Christians who request religious exemptions rarely even try to offer substantive biblical and theological reasoning. This includes objections that invoke religious beliefs in general terms, but upon further scrutiny, appeal to other factors. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. But ask yourself, Is [insert religious justification] really why I dont want the vaccine, or is [insert religious justification] a convenient pass for me to avoid something I just dont want to do? If the answer is yes, then youre in danger of violating the ThirdCommandment. Unvaccinated employees may have any number of personal responses to a policy of vaccine mandates. Jackie Gale has never had a single vaccination because she believes that the Bible . Since then, the Christian right has been trying to do away with Smith in order to win ever-broader exemptions from laws that apply to everyone else. The Church of Christ, Scientist, is the most well-known religious opponent of mandatory vaccination laws, and through its lobbying efforts, has helped to pass religious vaccine exemption laws in most states. Be surprised when people dont believeyou not bible verses for religious exemption any regular medication and not body. 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