Jeffress says 'there is no credible religious argument' against coronavirus vaccines

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Under the Jewish traditions, there is no credible basis for a religious exemption from vaccines or masking. TFG's favorite pastor has come to the same conclusion for the christian faith
I am also surprised to be in agreement with this "person"

Link to tweet

The Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas said this week that "there is no credible religious argument" against receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Jeffress, an ardent supporter of former President Trump, told The Associated Press in an interview that he and his staff at First Baptist Dallas “are neither offering nor encouraging members to seek religious exemptions from the vaccine mandates.”

Both the U.S. private and public sectors have taken steps to mandate vaccines or frequent testing amid the surge in coronavirus cases, with the caveat that some religious exemptions will be given.

The comments from Jeffress come after members of different Christian communities say that they oppose taking the coronavirus vaccine because fetal cell lines were used in COVID-19 vaccine testing, according to the news outlet. Fetal cell lines, however, are not present in the actual vaccines.

“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,” Jeffress told the AP in an email.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Conservative Baptist Pastor Sees "No Credible Religious Argument" Against Vaccines

It is clear under Jewish law that there is no religious restriction against vaccines or masking. There is a good argument that masking is actually required under Jewish law. I was amused to see that TFG's favorite nut case preacher agrees with this position

Link to tweet

Several prominent church leaders recently announced that they weren’t granting exemptions, nor did they think their faiths were incompatible with the vaccine. “There is no credible religious argument against the vaccines,” the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist pastor, told the Associated Press in an email this week. Jeffress is best known for his conservative views and was a prominent supporter of Donald Trump.

People are seeking the exemptions in large numbers. The Los Angeles Police Department said that 2,600 employees are seeking faith-based exemptions. Washington state is reporting that 3,800 of its 60,000 employees are doing the same.

But several large churches have announced that they will not be granting any exemptions, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Previously, Catholics, who are anti-abortion, expressed concern that coronavirus vaccine research used fetal cell lines. However, the vaccine itself does not contain any and the Vatican announced that Catholics may receive the vaccine in good conscience.

In response to the flood of requests to be exempt on the basis of religion, some employers are pushing back. One Arkansas hospital is asking anyone who objects because of the fetal cell line issue to also abstain from over-the-counter drugs that have been tested in a similar fashion. United Airlines announced that anyone who receives an exemption will either be reassigned or forced to go on temporary unpaid leave.

The state of New York simply did not include a religious exemption in its mandate for employees and is now facing a lawsuit. Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to fight it, saying: “I’m not aware of a sanctioned religious exemption from any organized religion…Everybody from the pope on down is encouraging people to get vaccinated.”[/b

[ItsjustMe]

2. Leviticus 13

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100215868678

[ZonkerHarris]

3. He has realized dead parishioners cannot donate money to him.

[rampartc]

17. you underestimate the contrubutions that come in wills

,any old and sick people believe they can buy a ticket to the afterlife.

[haele]

20. He didn't care when it was old people.

They had wills and donations already set up. Younger parishioners either don't have wills (so the money goes directly to the kids or the surviving spouse) or will leave all the money to keep the family going instead of donations to his ministry.

He wants to keep his younger cult members alive to not only tithe to him, but to be good little foot soldiers for his political ambitions. Instead of spending all their time and money on hospitals and other health shit.
Or potentially questioning his God or his representation of a deity that endures his paycheck.

Haele

[Skittles]

4. if you were truly pro-life, you would be pro-vaccine

otherwise you're just a stupid, selfish asshole

[stopdiggin]

5. Ummmm. Okay.

Have to be glad for the vocal support on what I clearly believe to be the only moral and ethical position available here ...

But ... Must say that I stagger at the assertion, "no credible religious argument .." That would mean that religious arguments made on the subjects of slavery, homosexuality, miscegenation, witchcraft, and women's voices - are on comparatively much more solid ground? Ahem ...

Like I said, "Thanks .. but I think I'll stand over here .."

[ShazzieB]

8. Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion. 🤔

Saying there's "no credible religious argument" for not getting vaxxed does not reflect at all on whether there is a credible religious argument for any of those things you listed (or for anything, really). There are many things for which there is no credible religious argument. Naming one of them doesn't in any way imply that it's the only one.

[stopdiggin]

10. the church (or religion if you prefer) has used

rigorous 'religious argument' in either condemnation or defense of each example I gave. That a argument can't be found, or can't be made in this case, would tend to indicate that the arguments for the foregoing have much more solid underpinnings.

From my point of view of course - it's ALL just so much flim-flam and flummery - so it's not like I'm really vested in any way. But, at this point in the great arc, to say that you just can't find a religious argument or justification - whatever the topic - means that you're probably just not very good at it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Other than Christian Science (a truly dubious religion at best)

are there any religions that actually inveigh against science or medical stuff?

[stopdiggin]

23. quite certainly!

and also hundreds of sects and 'offshoots' of mainstream
(and trying to make distinctions there is, to my mind, pretty much picking at nits)

here's a (partial) list of denominations active here in the U.S.
http://childrenshealthcare.org/

disclaimer no affiliation or knowledge of the source.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Since when has TFG gone to church?

The last time he went near a church, he sent his thugs to remove the staff working outside so he could use the church for a background while he held a Bible upside down for the press.

[monkeyman1]

9. church my ass !

people go to church & with about a damn hour youl'll see'm at the local bar ! seen it all to many times ! as far as TFG, church is just a photo -op, nothing more !

[Mike Nelson]

11. Well...

... I don't think there is, either. However, there are some who believe God/Jesus is in complete control of all disease. Their religious faith tells people prayer is the only real defense. You can't debate with conclusions based on religious faith. A group of these people see Crooked Donald as a divine messenger.

[ExciteBike66]

12. The phrase "credible religious argument" itself is an oxymoron...

[Igel]

15. The root of "credible" is "cred-" which means "believe."

You personally don't have to believe it for it to be credible to somebody else.

That's sort of the problem with the kind of pronouncement in the OP: All such argumentation has to be couched within some sort of framework, in this case some sort of religious framework or doctrine.

Some frameworks require a lot of belief and buy-in because they tend to be controlling and oppressive, asserting the One True Path and denying that there can be any others. The question really boils down to how assertive they are: Do they merely make the claim and shrug, live and let live; or do they make the claim and expect some sort of enforcement by law or organized society, my way or the highway?

I can't see the latter as having much do to with Xianity.

[stopdiggin]

21. pretty nearly -(nt)-

[canetoad]

13. There's no fucking ANYTHING argument

Against getting vaccinated other than being a nutjob who wants to see suffering.

[kentuck]

14. I see it as a denouncement of faith.

They do not have faith in the progress of humanity, which seems to me, should be a tenet in any person's religion.

[NickB79]

16. Probably worried about the pews looking kinda empty these days

While the cemeteries are filling up fast.

Can't get tithings from graves.

[doc03]

18. I don't know, what do the Amish think about vaccines? nt

[Midnight Writer]

19. I don't know about vaccines, but in my area they refuse masks.

They come into town in little busses to do their shopping. You can be in a grocery doing fine and then a bus pulls up and 30 or 40 unmasked people enter the store all at once.

[stopdiggin]

22. and there have been other (separate) religious

objections to blood draws, transfusions, invasive procedure, chemo - and on, down through the years. This is not new territory. And, quite frankly, Jeffress is nowhere close to solid ground here - and also, frankly, completely full of sh*t.

From what is sounds like, Jeffress was most likely trying to defuse the narrower issue of stem cell research -- and rather ham-handedly at that - but the larger issue of religious thought and vaccine resistance was not taken up at all in this message. And, as such, the statement "no credible religious argument" is a huge overreach, without real foundation, and fairly meaningless. Just the blatherings of another sky pilot.

[Silent3]

24. He could have just said, "there is no credible religious argument"...

...and stopped right there.