As Republican lawmakers rage against President Joe Biden’s sweeping vaccine mandates, the Associated Press reported that religious exemptions are becoming more widely used as a “loophole” to avoid getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
But a Trump-loving preacher at a Texas megachurch has decreed that there is “no credible religious argument” for turning down a shot, the Associated Press said.
The Rev. Robert Jeffress, a pastor at the 12,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, told the news agency that he and his staff are neither “offering” exemption letters nor “encouraging” members of their congregation to seek out religious exemptions from coronavirus vaccine mandates.
“Christians who are troubled by the use of a fetal cell line for the testing of the vaccines would also have to abstain from the use of Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, Ibuprofen, and other products that used the same cell line if they are sincere in their objection,” said Jeffress in an email.
Jeffress, who once suggested that he would vote for former President Donald Trump over somebody who embodies the teachings of Jesus, is one of many religious leaders who have recently opposed the use of religious exemption letters.
The AP reported that leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said Thursday that, aside from medical reasons, “there is no exemption in the Orthodox Church for Her faithful from any vaccination for religious reasons.”
Similarly, the news agency reported that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York have also said that they are not in support of exemption letters, according to the AP.
But not all churches share the same view. The AP said that some Catholic bishops, including those at The Colorado Catholic Conference, have made it easier to object to the vaccine on religious grounds by posting online templates for a letter that priests can sign.
One pastor in Tulsa has even said that he will sign a religious exemption letter if people donate to his church, The Washington Post reported.
According to a senior fellow for religious freedom at the Freedom Forum in Washington, religious exemptions are likely to be at the center of fierce legal battles in the coming months.
“As vaccine mandates continue to expand in schools and workplaces, there is bound to be more litigation on the issue of religious exemptions – especially in cases where no exemptions (except medical) are allowed,” said Charles Haynes in an email to The Washington Post.
I have no confidence in these spike protein vaccines. I just watched a doctor refute the vaccines as possibly causing death in 2-3 years from the day of taking it. So these two are either mis-informed about what is happening to people (permanent injuries and death & does not even prevent Covid – errrrr…the Influenza C) or they are just not caring about the deaths from these vaccines
– again, which are not EVEN vaccines. They would think differently if someone gave them the slides of what I just saw from this expert in the field. It is a death warrant for unknowing people…..but for those of us who KNOW and SEE what is happening, we will have none of it. I love President Trump and all he has done for the American people, but cannot figure why he is promoting the vaccines….along with this Pastor???? Big question mark!!!
No preacher is given the authority anywhere in the Bible to make personal religious decisions on behalf of other Christians. He does not get to decide that issue for others. What a pompous self righteous hypocrite. By the way these aren’t vaccines and if the preacher knew what he was talking about he would know that. This MRNA technology has never been used before in so called vaccines and no one knows the log term effects they may have on the human body which if a Christian is the temple of God. They have not been around long enough to know the long term effects no matter what the CDC or Fauchi says. Anyone who is dumb enough to lineup to take these shots just because the government told you they are safe is naive at best. Don’t you remember the swine flu? Tuskegee? Etc…Talk about someone with very little discernment. Again he doesn’t get to decide what constitutes a religious exception for others. What a self important megalomaniac.