While I strongly disagree with Josephine County Commissioner Darin Fowler’s statement that we cannot trust doctors to give us accurate medical advice, I do think he was onto something when he implored his constituents to “ask God, and pray for wisdom” about COVID-19 vaccines (“Oregon politician says ‘ask God’ about COVID-19 vaccination, ‘you can’t trust doctors’,” Oct. 7). Many Christian leaders, including Pope Francis and Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, are advocating that people get vaccinated. And faith leaders representing the breadth of American Christianity – including the organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America – are refusing to endorse religious exemptions to vaccine mandates.
It appears vaccine refusal is inconsistent with the teachings of any mainstream Christian organization in the U.S. Commissioner Fowler and his colleagues on the Board of Commissioners would do better to ask God and pray for wisdom to protect the health and safety of their constituents from the ravages of the global pandemic.
Chris Wig, Springfield
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