When I was an elementary school student in Lake City, my well-meaning mom and dad – who were nominal Christian Scientists at the time – got me exempted from Seattle Public Schools vaccination requirements for religious reasons. I am not sure that was the greatest idea, but, as a little kid, it was not a big deal to me.
Flash forward to 2021, and it looks like there is an unusually high number of Christian Scientists working for the State of Washington. Or maybe not.
A reported 8% of state government employees have requested medical or religious exemptions to Gov. Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. At least 4,799 exemptions have been filed by workers at 24 state agencies, and there may be more to come. Call me cynical, but I suspect that, for quite a few of those folks, it is not God guiding their choice, unless the Almighty has taken the form of a Fox News commentator.
Politics and religion have certainly gotten mixed in contemporary society, but, at least so far, being a disciple of anti-vaccine nutballs from talk radio, right-wing media and the ranks of Republican congressmen does not qualify as a legitimate faith.
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