‘STOP TRYING TO GET ONE!’ ERLC Argues AGAINST Religious Exemptions For Vaccine Mandate Unless You’re Amish
“Not challenging the ethics of forced vaccinations and downplaying religious liberty is peak ERLC irony.” ~ Tanner Olson @therealTOlson
In predictable fashion, hours before the Biden Administration announced that vaccines would be mandatory across the country for all businesses with more than 100 employees, the Southern Baptist Convention’s ERLC has come up with the worst take on the topic of religious exemptions for Christians, arguing that nothing in the Christian faith would warrant an exemption.
This organization, which basically functions as the propaganda wing of the Democratic party, regurgitates talking points under the guise of ‘loving thy neighbor,’ and suggests that the reasons Christians do give are not valid or theologically appropriate, and they need to stop trying to get religious exemptions for a mandatory vaccine and save their protests for when their religious beliefs are actually being violated.
In a post by Ashli and Matthew Arbo, they appeal to their experience as “an ethicist and attorney practicing religious liberty law” while minimizing the concerns of those opposed to mandatory vaccine policy, painting them as wishy-washy, misled, and folk who ‘don’t do smart good’ and are relying on their subjective experience.
Damning with faint praise aside, they say that the reasons that Christians give are anything but religious.
“If faced with such a mandate, some Christians will likely consider objecting to vaccination requirements on religious grounds. In this type of situation, they would claim the requirements violate their religious beliefs and seek formal religious exemptions. Such a claim might be motivated by the belief that their constitutionally protected rights are being infringed upon and that their religious sentiments are sufficient grounds for refusal.
In our experience, the reasons appealed to by some evangelicals for refusing vaccinations are not, strictly speaking, religious, but personal, philosophical, or political. This includes objections that invoke religious beliefs in general terms, but upon further scrutiny, appeal to other factors. Some may, for example, express concerns about infertility, or the lack of longitudinal studies, or that their employer has simply violated their rights. But none of these reasons are overtly related with the individual’s religious beliefs. “
They do recognize that “there are undoubtedly people of faith with relevant moral and, or, theological concerns that could merit a religious exemption.” But here is the kicker:
“A strong religious exemption would be based on recognized scriptural precept or a particular church or tradition’s confession or teaching. In its most robust form, such an exemption might rely on a provision within a church’s confessional statement explicitly forbidding vaccines or other medical interventions. The Amish or Jehovah’s Witness are examples. No such direct prohibition exists within wider Christian theology, but these religious groups are able to appeal to a unique teaching wholly adopted by their specific faith tradition.
In short: get wrecked prots. Unless you are a part of a non-Christian sect that doesn’t believe in using electricity, there is nothing you can appeal to or no argument in the Bible that would warrant your refusal or an exemption. They go on to note “there is little to no evidence” that vaccines harm our bodies, and that the unvaccinated are “29 times more likely to be hospitalized” with the source for that assertion being NBC News.
They conclude by saying that Christians need to stop trying to get religious exemptions to the demand of “get the jab or get fired” because doing so will ruin it for others down the road when religious freedom is actually being threatened.
“Illegitimate appeals to religious liberty are perhaps the greatest threat to legal protections of religious liberty. 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.
…Not every directive during a public health crisis represents a curtailment of religious liberty. As stated, the request for a religious exemption should rest on the foundation of a sincere and applicable religious belief.
With no commentary on why this is a gross infringement on religious liberty, they conclude, as we knew they would before we finished the article:
“We don’t possess ourselves but are ourselves possessed by him (1 Cor 6:20). 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 one’s neighbor.“
Behold, your cooperative program dollars at work- bringing you so much religious liberty you barely stand it.
About Author
The words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ are meaningless to those who wish to control.
Look here. The Judeo-Christian way of “loving your neighbor” is to get the vaccine. Stop being selfish!! Many smart conservatives like David French are telling you to get vaxxed? OK, so my appeal to morality isn’t working? Then consider this: Is this worth getting kicked out of your church? losing your job? Getting banned from concerts, airplanes, or churches? WE ARE GOING TO MAKE YOU GET VAXXED ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. Stop being a baby or listening to Qanon. Do the right thing. Just get vaxxed already. It’s a Pubic Health situation NOT about private choice!!
You’re not making anyone do anything, dumbass.
I second that
There is more of that CCV fruit! Examine yourself with fear and trembling to see if you are in the faith. Jesus said he would rather you be hot or cold than lukewarm.
James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Who is we? Do you feel empowered by creating for yourself a “we”? Furthermore; I must surmise that you have a seared conscience after righteously judging your unbiblical opinions over time. So , as I sit and think about Johnny on protestia comment section ; I just pray that God has mercy upon your soul and gives you a heart of Godly repentance and a measure of faith. Unless you repent ; you will indeed perish!
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
No evidence the so-called “vaccine” harms our bodies? ………………………………………………. WHAT?!!!
What in the sam hill do they call 14,000 people dead, and upwards of a million seriously injured by this so-called “vaccine” ???
What do they call it when healthy young people are several times more likely to die or suffer serous injury from the so-called vaccine, than the virus itself?
Their statement is highly unethical, and immoral. They either didn’t do the research, or deliberately lied, in a manner that puts others lives at risk. If this is the best the ERLC can do, it needs to be shut down immediately.
I don’t see how these progressives can even sleep at night. There is no way I could possibly force or coerce someone into taking a drug that could kill them. I couldn’t do that. Nobody with an ounce of conscience and sense of right and wrong could do that and live with themselves.
“.. or a particular church or tradition’s confession or teaching. In its most”
I’m tired of ceeding the Declaration of Independence to atheists. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is a religious statement, and trying to force a vaccine on anyone is affecting their unalienable right to life, and to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness.
Any patriotic church in America should agree with those religious statements, or they are not patriotic at all.
I don’t understand why Christians aren’t outraged that most of the major manufacturers of this vaccine used aborted fetal cells in its development (HEK-293). Al Mohler says it’s okay for Christians to take it anyway because the harm has already been done, that it’s an older strain and we might as well have some “good” come from it. He assures us that Pro-Life Christians can take it with legitimacy.
There is no “good” to come from injecting any portion, regardless of how small or how old, of another murdered human into our bodies. Yes, forced vaccinations are a violation of our human rights and in violation of the constitution. They are most likely a violation of the Nuremburg Code due to the forced human trials of a substance not yet proven safe. But far above and beyond all of those valid reasons for refusing forced vaccination is the atrocity of the ingredients of what is being injected. Why isn’t this part of the discussion? The other valid arguments are all concerning how we as humans are aggrieved, but when Christians take something into their bodies built on the structure of murdered innocent babies it is God who is aggrieved. This is the very definition of religious exemption. We do not believe in murdering babies for the greater medical good. We do not believe in taking their dead cells into our bodies. And we do not believe in offending the God who made those babies.