A California Church has offered a particularly evil carrot and stick to its congregants: get vaccinated or you cannot attend in-person church services with the rest of the body.
The decision to segregate church attendees according to their medical history, creating a two-tiered system with vaccinated congregants allowed to attend but unvaccinated needing to do online services, or not come at all, comes from First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana, a PCUSA congregation in the heart of California.
On their website, they explain fully vaccinated attendees cannot attend freely, but that they must adhere to the conditions of wearing a mask at all times, even while singing, and practicing strict social distancing.
- Wear a mask that covers both nose and mouth;
- Stay 6 feet apart from others who don’t live with you;
- One family at a time in the elevator;
- Avoid touching common surfaces;
- Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds;
- Use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available;
- Avoid touching your face;
- During worship, sing softly with your mask on.
This, they say, is in accordance to CDC and state guidelines, and comes after a year of meeting online – never having a regular service since the pandemic started over 15 months ago.
This is not a government mandate, but rather is an example of the minister policing the laity on the basis of their health. Though the pastors in charge obviously think this is acceptable, we wonder whether or not they’d be so crass as to separate the church based on whether or not they were HIV positive, or telling those with Hepatitis C to stay home and watch the service on Zoom.
We doubt it. Anyone coming up on a sight like this ought to instantly turn and walk away right back where they came, shaking the dust from their feet.
