Most of those pastors or congregations have embraced or tolerated conspiracy theories related to the reality of COVID, its origins and the safety of vaccines.Ĭhief among such high-profile pastors is Greg Locke of Nashville, who this week was banned for life from Twitter for repeatedly spreading demonstrably false information.Īnd at least one Oklahoma pastor is trying to cash in on the vaccination fears of some evangelical Christians that have been stoked by far-right media. Meanwhile in Tennessee and Oklahoma …ĭespite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Christian denominations in the United States today do not oppose vaccination on doctrinal grounds, some individual pastors and congregations are making news with their loud opposition to the COVID vaccines. The denomination does not publish its statistics, but the number of Christian Science congregations in America today is believed to be fewer than 1,000. The Church of Christ, Scientist - commonly known as Christian Science - teaches that disease can be cured or prevented by focused prayer, leading members to request exemption from vaccinations in general. The denomination itself has not taken a stand against COVID-19 vaccination.ĭespite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Christian denominations in the United States today do not oppose vaccination on doctrinal grounds, some individual pastors and congregations are making news with their loud opposition to the COVID vaccines. There are only about 1,000 congregations within the Reformed Church in America - as the Dutch Reformed are known today - and many of that body’s most prominent congregations are advocates of vaccination.
However, others within the faith accept immunization as a gift from God to be used with gratitude.” “Some members decline vaccination on the basis that it interferes with divine providence. It includes Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, Baptists, Mormons, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Seventh-Day Adventists and Unitarian-Universalists.Įven Jehovah’s Witness - a group that originally shunned vaccination - revised its stance in 1952 to allow vaccination, and an article in a recent issue of the church’s newsletter promotes vaccination to avoid infectious diseases.ĭutch Reformed congregations have “a tradition of declining immunizations,” Vanderbilt reports. Vanderbilt has published a long list of denominations that have no theological objection to vaccination in general. Allowing widespread exemptions to vaccination would undermine the efficacy of the vaccine effort. However, these are intentionally written in such a way as to make exemptions rare because the way vaccines are effective is by their widespread - almost universal - adoption. labor law and some state vaccination laws provide for limited religious exemptions to vaccination mandates. And that is a key to understanding legitimate claims for a religious exemption to COVID-19 vaccine mandates: Your religious group must oppose vaccines in general, not just the COVID vaccine.
Unless you’re a member of a Dutch Reformed church or a Christian Science church, making a claim for a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine as a Christian is going to be hard to prove.Īccording 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 expressed any doctrinal objections to vaccinations in general.
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