I would never sign off on someones religiousconvictions. Maybe so. It's a much more complicated and complex phase and debate over religious exemptions. Now it is most abominably scandalous and shameful that that body, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, which is sacred to him as a temple, should be defiled by the sin of fornication: it isadded. Jesus and Paul were actually muchharsher. But anyway, imagine thisargument, The situation isnt precisely parallel, but the similarities are interesting. He also affirms in 1 Cor. People came out with huge numbers, great stories of impending disaster, and the like, much of which turned out to be distorted and exaggerated and some of which was known at the time to be exaggerated anddistorted. The Bible teaches us that the body is created in the image of God 1 4 , the temple of the Holy Spirit 1 5 , a living sacrifice to the Lord. So the Jews (o) call the body of a righteous man the habitation of the Holy Spirit. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768). We just hope the behavior improvements are better than the side effects that practically everyonefaces. Thats the case here: Pauls admonition to the Corinthians is being invoked to put a religious spin on a ubiquitous concern for personal health. 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. 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. There may be people that think that Paul is talking about the Corinthians as a whole in this passage, but that is the wronginterpretation. Accepting the COVID vaccination into my body violates my closely held religious beliefs. NBC 7 Investigates obtained a copy of the religious-exemption letter that Awaken is offering to its members. Displaying all articles. A service of Logos Bible Software. "I have a religious exemption." "Great. Sure he learned about religious practices and, because border was not clear for If it seems far-fetched to think a religious entity would claim an exemption from a law that has nothing to do with religious beliefs, remember that religious corporations and institutions have, in recent years, won broad new powers to do everything from underfund their employee pension plans, to refuse to recognize adjunct faculty unions. Various news outlets explain this connection is distant and far removed, and that the vaccines themselves dont contain fetal tissue. Subject: Religious Exemption To Whom It May Concern: I, Yesenia Fuentes, as the parent of David Santos and Daniel Fuentes am exercising my right under the . The decision could affect everything from traffic laws to racial discrimination. At the end of the 20 century you had this Lancet article published by Andrew . I believe in and follow God and the principles laid out in His Word and I have a deeply held belief that vaccines violate them. If you're heartsick over racial injustice. We would like to bring to the readers attention our perspective and experience on these important issues as they navigate these difficult questions. You must think carefully, very carefully, about why you object to the vaccine. "Religious exemptions provide an all-too-easy way for people who don't want to get vaccinated for some reason or other to wiggle out of a vaccine mandate and do so on the basis of what they claim to be a deeply held religious belief, which is largely unpoliced," Feldman told Insider. 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. The abortion exemption, in my mind used to be the strongest, but what you are finding isthat: The other exemptions, I agree, are very weak at thispoint. As Jesus explains, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth. He goes on to explain that out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. Your information is being handled in accordance with the, How conspiracy theories undermine the common good. Vaccines violate our ability to follow the teachings of the Bible. 7) The Bible has a clear warning against taking anything that might alter your mind, make you hallucinate, or dream strange visions. He blogs as the Eccentric Fundamentalist. In 6:19-20, however, it is clear that the individual bodies of believers is in view. The second argument. I appreciate your comments here of late about theissue. While a few employees might be entitled to religious exemptions from their employers vaccine policies, most of the real-life religious objections Ive seen fall short of the standard. Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Some of those battles are important and worth fighting. Youth voting blocs are so powerful that most schools have enough students to easily tip an election in key states. 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). In the context of vaccinations, this certainly includes seeking counsel, acknowledging the mounting evidence to the safety of vaccines, and contemplating the risks in refusing them, not only to oneself but also to ones neighbor. Some people have a deeply held belief that Arbys makes good roast beef sandwiches. I can't even think about it.". The first reason cites a Bible verse that says the human body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The letter states, We are commanded to take good care of it, not to defile it, and certainly not introduce something into it. It goes on to say that taking this vaccine actually makes modifications to the body. This, in essence, would be trying to improve or alter what God made perfectly which is clearly a sinful practice., The most common argument against being vaccinated against the coronavirus is that aborted fetal cell lines were used in the production process. The temple of God objection is not a matter of conscience, its cowardice. 3 in 5 white evangelicals believe that the election was stolen, despite absolutely no proof of it. 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. Also, whataboutism continues with arguments like, more people would get the vaccine if Biden didnt let thousands of unvaccinated migrants enter the country. As I have prayed about what I should do, the Holy Spirit has moved on my heart and conscience that I must not accept the COVID shot. As part of my prayers, I have asked God for direction regarding the current COVID shot requirement. And this leads him to ask: Do you not know that you are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit dwells in you? 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. 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. We know they have a therapeutic affect. And this may come just as Christians are about to need exemptions most. 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.. Just last month, Bishop Robert McElory issued a letter to San Diego priests asking them to decline any requests for religious exemptions to vaccines. 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. Photo courtesy of Erin Kirschner, Dr. William Tseng from Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Even some who are knowledgeable about vaccines. (it seems like) there is a risk/reward calculation that causes them to skipit. If you found the piece above useful, informative, or inspiring, please consider supporting Truthout with a tax-deductible donation. We were . Are you sure you are not violating the 3rd commandment in using God as your justification for condemning someone elsesconscience? American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is proud to be a founding member of the national volunteer COVID-19 Community Corps, which encourages people to get a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as it is available to them. I Work for a Pastor with Low Emotional Intelligence, Split or Stay? The biggest class of drugs that are an exemplar of this is the CNS class (or Central Nervous System). Snow, Rain and Wind in the Forecast Yet Again. To justify divorce in unwarranted circumstances, sexual immorality, sexual confusion, gender identity, and the like. He also works in State government. 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. We dont know chemically how they impact a human, but we can see behavorially that they have an impact. Religious liberty is precious and should be protected. 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 an exceedingly important value, and it is a constitutional right recognized in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You should then print the exemption form to complete the required information and to sign the form. None of these drugs have had any safety studies done, nor are they approved by the FDA. For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians6:19-20) Here, Paul is repeating a refrain from earlier in this same letter: Do you not know that you are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit dwells in you? (3:16). 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. Once downloaded, review all of the information and requirements for the exemption type you have selected. I once had a friend who was a believer in my church. Claiming a religious exemption to the covid vaccine is not only asinine but it also weakens true religious exemption claims over legit issues forbelievers. Agree that if we want to preach body is a temple, the text is 1 Cor. God gave us His word. Some of us definitely are making a calculation as to risk/reward. Nonetheless, the question I would like to consider is whether a vaccine could, in theory, go against Pauls exhortation in this passage. This letter manages to encapsulate peak narcissism with its interpretivemethod: It is against my faith and my conscience to commit sin. These requirements dictate that all employees, whatever their personal reservations might be, must be vaccinated by a specified date or else face repercussions ranging from required masking, testing, and isolation to different assignments to formal termination. The vaccine effort has been plagued by falsehoods of all kinds. In our experience, the reasons appealed to by some evangelicals for refusing vaccinations are not, strictly speaking, religious, but personal, philosophical, or political. The truth is out there but people have become deceived. How worried should we be about COVID conspiracies? 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. The issues here have been around for a very long time," Evans said. That means they mix and prepare a drug at the pharmacy. Those statements were made by people (Jesus, Paul) who spoke and/or wrote under infallible and inerrant direction and filling of the Spirit. It is scarcely believable that unclean foods under the Old Covenant are a parallel to a COVID vaccine. He was a very intelligent man who nevertheless was poorly educated. He explained he wasnt getting the flu shot because he read about it and they put like three kinds of junks in your arm. Should that person be scorned because he couldnt fully understand the science? The Bible says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17 KJV). Platt said that the report, co-authored with Katherine Franke and Lilia Hadjiivanova, is intended to help activists, policymakers and the public prepare for the implications of the new legal regime ushered in by the Tandon case. So, do not. Your physicians cannot be giving out religious exemptions, Tseng said he reminds people. Paul has something similar in view in his second letter to the Corinthians: let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1). Options for the sacrilegious. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, where the justices sided with the Bible study group 5 to 4, writing that government regulations are not neutral and generally applicable, and therefore trigger strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause, whenever they treat any comparable secular activity more favorably than religious exercise.. Rather, the drivers for evangelical resistance are nonreligious and are rooted in deep-seated suspicion of government and vulnerability tomisinformation. People look for us to be models of . Lets begin with Pauls first letter to the Corinthians itself. If they are legal, they have been processed at the border, given a court date and potentially released into the US. The failure of the government to grant religious objectors an exemption from nearly any law or policy now amounts to religion-based discrimination, no matter the importance of the public interest being protected by the law even the publics interest in staying healthy during a global pandemic, concludes the report, titled, We The People (of Faith): The Supremacy of Religious Rights in the Shadow of a Pandemic. Under this broad conception of religious liberty, policymakers could be constitutionally required to exempt religious adherents from regulations enacted to protect labor and workers rights, public health, civil rights, and other critical policy goals., The report outlines chilling examples that could result from this broad new religious power. The Christian right filed a barrage of cases. Yes, some Catholics might believe the COVID-19 pandemic evil enough and the participation remote enough to justify the shot. 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