Really, can the church require vaccinations?!!!
Now and then I get all riled up over some health or nutrition issue, and when I do, there are always some of you who GET IT too and are right there with me, shocked and ticked OFF. This time it was my friend Jill who got me goin'. She told me about a church in California requiring vaccinations before they'll let kids sign up for VBS. This is WRONG on so many levels; it's a major parental rights issue, a moral issue (especially for a CHURCH, due to the aborted fetal tissue used in the production of vaccines, which is so unbelievably disturbing that this happens in AMERICA, as if we're Nazis in the 1940's), and it's a SAFETY issue too, because of how many docs and vaccine makers that don't know what they're doing when it comes to this issue, as I explained in this post when I found that out very clearly, right before they almost shot up our son with a vaccine combo that their own insert said not to give together, one that they still give together ALL of the time!
Jill goes into all of that below in a very well-written letter she sent to the pastor, and if it inspires you to DO something, feel free to share this post with your friends, family, and local politicians using the share buttons below. Here's Jill:
Dear California Church Applying the SB277 Vaccine Mandate to VBS and Sunday School
Dear Reverends, Ms. ____, and Mr. ____,
It came to my attention from a friend of mine who lives in California and tried to register her children for your VBS, that ____ Church is applying the SB277 school vaccine mandate to its attendance policy for VBS and other children’s ministries. The application form’s wording strongly implies that the law extends to churches, which is a gross misrepresentation of the law (the bill’s text can be read here), 
but there is more that is troubling me about your policy.
By your desire to have every child in your church (or even visiting for VBS) fully vaccinated according to the CDC vaccine schedule, I do understand that you are hoping to avoid exposure within your congregation to communicable diseases that vaccines are designed to prevent.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of data refuting the safety and effectiveness of vaccines as well as giant gaps in terms of safety studies and liability.
For example, drug companies that make vaccines are 100% liability free from injuries and death caused by their products—parents of vaccine injured children cannot sue drug companies, their doctors, or mandating agents, there has never been a health outcome comparison study between fully vaccinated and fully unvaccinated children or adults, and our current vaccine schedule (the most aggressive in the world) has never been tested for safety as given. While these are no small matters, instead of focusing on them I want to share with you a few thoughts that are applicable even if the assumption that vaccines have been proven completely safe and effective was true.
The first concept I’d like you to consider is if you were on a missions trip in a foreign country, would you refuse to minister to children who were not up to date according to America’s CDC vaccine schedule?
I am sure your answer is “no”, but placing this obstacle between the children in your community and hearing the gospel preached in your church is very much the same thing. It brings to mind Matthew 23:13-14 when Jesus chastised (to put it mildly) the Pharisees for “shutting the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces” and not letting “those enter who are trying to”. Please understand that I am not accusing you of being a Pharisee or consciously shutting children out of the kingdom of heaven. I believe you mean well, but the ramifications of your policy, besides being an inaccurate representation and inappropriate application of the law, are sobering, particularly as it applies to children. Many churches display in their Sunday School area a picture of Jesus surrounded by children with the words of Matthew 19:14 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Great men and women of God throughout history have deliberately ministered to the sick.
Of course children who are not up to date according to the CDC’s vaccine schedule are not somehow automatically sick (although those recently vaccinated with live virus vaccines, such as MMR, chickenpox, rotavirus, and the nasal flu vaccine shed vaccine strain viruses for weeks on end), but since your policy is intended to prevent potential exposure to illnesses, it makes me wonder what would have happened if Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity took the same approach. Or if the Paraboloni had done the same. Where would any of us be if Jesus had placed conditions of any kind on people before they could come to Him? Instead He was often criticized for spending so much time with “unclean” sinners and lepers.
8 years ago my husband, children, and I spent a year in South Africa, largely working with AIDS orphans.
Several of whom were HIV positive, some who were recovering from tuberculosis, one who had chronic chickenpox and then shingles because her AIDS-ravaged immune system couldn't bring it under control. We were around a LOT of sick people regularly (and stayed healthy by the way, even though none of us were “up to date” according to the CDC schedule). I wouldn’t trade the honor of ministering to the many precious, physically ill people we befriended that year for anything. Sometimes while wiping the runny nose of a child I felt as if I was wiping Jesus’ nose, since he said that whatever we do for the “least of these” we do for Him, and that whatever we don’t do for the “least of these” we don’t do for him. I am not perfect and am not trying to place myself in the same category as Mother Teresa or the early Church’s Paraboloni, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to love—in person—hurting people who I actually knew were sick with communicable diseases.
The Church should be a sanctuary from corrupt government, not an extension of it.
While on the surface SB277 might seem like a noble effort to protect public health, just a little digging under the surface reveals that Senator Pan, who wrote the bill, has deep conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry and was the recipient of nearly $100,000 in industry payouts prior to the bill’s passing!
This isn’t just public health we are dealing with here—this is big business for one of the most powerful industries in the world, represented by the largest spending lobby in Washington.
Furthermore, Senator Pan was contacted directly by the filmmakers of the documentary, Vaxxed, prior to its release, with detailed information about the fraud committed by the CDC in their definitive 2004 MMR/autism study. Dr. William Thompson, the lead scientist at the CDC turned whistleblower, has turned thousands of documents over to Congressman Bill Posey from Florida, who’s been working to persuade congress to subpoena Dr. Thompson and investigate the fraud. Senator Pan knew, before SB277 passed, that the CDC’s own MMR study showed a significant link between the timing of MMR and autism and that they illegally manipulated the data to cover that link up. Of course the MMR is one of the vaccines mandated by SB277 and the fraud committed in the CDC’s study isn’t its first black eye.
Before the CDC whistleblower came forward, Merck's (the maker of MMR) own whistleblowers came forward about fraud committed by the company itself, falsifying effectiveness of the mumps portion of the vaccine in order to monopolize the market. This may explain why almost all mumps cases now are in fully vaccinated individuals (the same can be said for whooping cough and DTaP, but that’s another story). The MMR is merely one example of extensive corruption driving the pharmaceutical industry and bleeding over into health policy. The issue of pharmaceutical corruption and its influence over health policy is so pervasive that Harvard’s University’s Center for Ethics devoted an entire issue of its journal to the subject.
Along the same lines as corruption is the sanctity of life problem created by aborted fetal cell lines used in the production of several vaccines mandated by SB277, which leaves your congregants in a huge ethical and spiritual dilemma.
You can learn about this issue and learn about which vaccines are developed using aborted fetal cell lines and that contain cell protein and DNA from aborted babies here and here.
Of course supporters of SB277 point out that there is allowance for medical exemptions, assuming that if there is any reason a child may be susceptible to harm from vaccination their parents and doctor can opt them out.
Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to obtain a medical exemption by CDC standards and doctors who use their professional judgement to write medical exemptions outside of official guidelines risk harsh professional consequences.
- Seizure, fever of 104.9, shock or loss of consciousness after the last vaccine? Doesn’t qualify.
- Family or personal history of SIDS, documented vaccine injury, or neurological disorder? Doesn’t qualify either.
- Immunocompromised immediate family members of a child “due” for a live virus vaccine that sheds? Nope.
- HIV positive, autoimmune disease, immunosuppressed, egg or penicillin allergies? Too bad.
By extending SB277 to your congregants, even families who are homeschooling susceptible children because they don’t technically qualify (but should) for a medical exemption will have to choose between avoiding placing their child at risk for a severe adverse event or going to Vacation Bible School. You can read more about the unbelievably narrow standards for medical exemptions here and compare official CDC contraindications with known adverse reactions and side effects listed on package inserts for each vaccine here.
Finally, requiring parents to show proof of their children being “up to date” on their vaccines before participating in children’s ministries is usurping God-ordained parental authority.
There is a reason scriptures pertaining to child rearing are directed at parents and not to the Church or the government (and vice-versa—children are instructed to obey their parents). That responsibility lies solely with the parents and of course responsibility and authority always go hand in hand. It was to Joseph that the angel appeared in a dream, instructing him and Mary to flee with the young Jesus to Egypt in order to escape Herod’s murderous rampage. It was to Abraham that God spoke directly regarding Isaac and likewise to Hannah regarding Samuel. Neither the Church nor the government is in a godly place when they dictate how parents must raise their children. Without freedom to hear directly from and obey the Holy Spirit, parents are shackled in fulfilling their call to parent in the way only God knows their child needs and in accordance with God's plan for each individual child. It sets up a situation where a parent may fear “man” (their church leadership and church policies) over God.
This was longer than I intended and I thank you for staying with me this long. Please re-evaluate your church’s vaccine policy for children with these thoughts in mind.
In an age of increasing government overreach and intolerance of Christian values I pray that the Church can be a beacon of light, a sanctuary from the darkness, a place that reflects 2 Corinthians 3:17 “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Respectfully,
Jill Boman
About Jill: My husband and I live in Waco, TX, along with our two awesome young adult kids (AND now in Dallas during the week while my husband attends chiropractic college). I have a small business, selling handmade personal and home care products at our farmer’s market and local retail sites. I am also Kelly’s blog assistant.? I am passionate about real food nutrition, natural health, local food, and I love to cook. Fortunately we have access to lots of local food via Waco’s fantastic year-round farmer’s market, nearby farms, and even a grocery store that sources much of its food locally.
See all my previous posts here.
Photo credit: The Church at Auvers by Vincent Van Gogh (public domain)
Gina Marie Garino-Tavares says
When a church says that it’s ok to use aborted fetus cells in vaccines AND mandates it, it is time to find a new church. Love to hear the church’s rebuttal. Love this warriors letter!
Jiri Moor says
Come out from among EVEN them!
Hypocrisy in the form of authoritarian policy that you comply with their demand!
Probably senator Pan’s congregation!
Make em famous!
The vaccine ingredient list should cause any rational person to pause, once they discover the human diploid MRC-5 cell line, that should cause a reasonable person to run!
You can’t get good health and long life from a dead thing!
Like a lamb to the slaughter…
My people perish for a lack of knowledge!
No excuse in 2017!
Rosana Costa Stoessel says
I’m the director of my church’s vbs. I will not ask for records. That’s just BS.
Cheryl Smith Tredway says
Thank goodness this wasn’t even asked for our church’s VBS program. That church is a disgrace.
Marya Goettsche Spurling says
Actually I think that’s a really smart public health measure, meant for children’s safety. Similarly it’s smart to require background checks for those working with children in such a setting- it may be seen as an infringement but the benefit is obvious. If I were a parent I would want to know that the children my kids were spending time with were also vaccinated. Just today we had a report of the first measles case in Maine in twenty years- it’s a deadly disease that is easily preventable with vaccines, and rare thanks to them.
Danielle Levins says
If vaccines function properly, how would an unvaccinated child be a danger or threat to your child at all? Or is it more that there a different class of human since they’re vaccinated and all. Do we segregate based on vaccination? I still go back to my original question. If they function properly, why would it matter?
Dawn Block says
Marya, one of the problems with your argument is that it’s “meant for public safety,” which it hasn’t been for a long time, if ever, as it’s really meant for profit for the pharmaceutical companies that produce them and they have spent billions convincing you and others that it is for public health. Vaccine ingredients are a scandal and cause harm, but the companies that produce them are free from any liability. Would you buy a car seat if the company that made it had no liability for its safety? Your child was injured from that car seat, oh well, it couldn’t have been the car seat. It was your bad luck. Another problem with your statement is that measles is a “deadly disease.” That simply isn’t true. My mother, and many of her generation got the measles, and it was a mini vacation from school, hardly the deadly disease we are told it is. As with ANY disease, those with health problems (many today due to vaccines!) have the potential to die from the disease. The bottom line is where there is risk, as with any medical treatment, there must be a choice. If you still don’t understand this, familiarize yourself with the Nuremberg Code.
Marya Goettsche Spurling says
Great question- I think it’s made under the assumption that vaccines are always 100% effective. Unfortunately that’s not the case. Vaccines are very effective, but nothing in medicine is guaranteed 100%. Immunity can wane over time, and there is a certain proportion of vaccinated individuals who may not respond to a particular vaccine. We don’t routinely check immunity titres to prove immunity after vaccination, so we may not know if a child is fully immune even if fully vaccinated. We depend on the presumption that when all of the community is vaccinated, the entire community is thereby protected. There are also those who cannot be vaccinated- whether because they are too young, too sick, or have compromised immune systems. Likely the sick and immunocompromised are not going to be attending VBS, but nonetheless the community concept is important. I think an individual view of vaccination is shortsighted and ultimately dangerous, and it’s important to understand that when I vaccinate myself and my children, I’m also protecting those around me, especially the more vulnerable.
Marya Goettsche Spurling says
Dawn- thank you, but I must respectfully disagree. I understand fully that pharmaceutical companies are primarily interested in their bottom line, and I see this on a daily basis, but to suggest that vaccines are solely for their profit is inaccurate. Study after well done study has shown their benefit in reducing harm by preventing highly contagious and deadly (yes-deadly) disease. You are right, nothing is without risk, and their are known risks inherent in vaccines, but the dangers of the diseases they are meant to prevent far outweigh the remote risk in a vaccine. There simply are not “many health problems” due to vaccines. And due to the widespread misinformation exemplified in the above article, they are also some of the most highly tested and proven interventions as far as safety and efficacy. I’m glad your mother recovered from measles. Many others did not- and that is a disease that is one of the most contagious. I am indeed familiar with the Nuremberg Code, and I don’t think it is appropriately applied to this argument. I see your point that where there is risk, there must be choice, and I think it is a good one, but may I extend it to your car seat analysis- when you place a child in a car seat, there is inherent risk of injury and death- and does that child have a choice in taking that risk? So I’m not convinced that argument must be universally applied.
Claudine Kuykendall says
Car seats don’t have the potential to harm, injure or kill on their own like vaccines! So not a good analogy. Having had measles, mumps and chicken pox as a kid, I remember being miserable a few days. Not to say there haven’t been serious adverse and rarely even death with these diseases, I’ve no doubt the numbers of those injured and even killed due to vaccines are waaaaay more! For me personally, the risks of harm from vaccines severely outweigh the risk of disease, especially when you consider these diseases were already on the decline before vaccines.
Jill-David Boman says
Unfortunately vaccines get far more credit in terms of public health than they deserve. This interview with immunologist, Tetyana Obukhanych is very informative and she covers quite a bit of ground: https://www.facebook.com/wearevaxxed/videos/481865375494077/?fref=mentions And Dr. Suzanne Humphries’ book, Dissolving Illusions, goes into great deal on the topic: https://amzn.to/2tmknxX The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid over $3.6 billion dollars so far to compensate victims of vaccine injury and death. The VICP is funded by a surcharge on every vaccine sold in the U.S.: 75 cents per single vaccine, so trivalent vaccine sales contribute $2.25 and quadrivalent $3.00 each to compensate vaccine injury victims. The Vaccine Injury Table outlines which injuries are covered, anticipated, for each vaccine: https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/vaccineinjurytable.pdf No children anywhere or at any other time in history have been as heavily vaccinated as American children and vaccine “compliance” is at an extreme high–far, far higher than when I was a child in the 70’s (and no one even talked about this stuff then). Our vaccine schedule tripled not long after the Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (1986), which indemnified drug companies from liability for injuries and deaths caused by vaccines (if that isn’t suspicious, I don’t know what is). Only 1 vaccine ingredient (thimerosal) and 1 vaccine (MMR) has been specifically tested for link with autism. That leaves all the other vaccines and many, many ingredients to research for not only autism link, but allergies, autoimmunity, impairment of fertility, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, ADHD, epilepsy, and other chronic illnesses. Other vaccine ingredients can be seen here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf Of course there has yet to be the most basic 100% vaccinated vs. unvaccinated long term health outcome study (the CDC won’t touch it and of course the pharmaceutical industry would never fund it), and our (ever growing) vaccine schedule has never been tested for safety as given. Vaccines are not safety tested against true saline placebos, but against either other vaccines or the vaccine in question against the background ingredients (minus the antigen)–a far cry from a valid safety study. Then there are issues of genetically engineered viral and bacterial antigens and fragmented DNA from human aborted babies in several vaccines (see excipient summary and look for MRC-5, WI-38). A few years ago, Dr. William Thompson, a lead CDC researcher, came forward with thousands of documents showing how the CDC covered up a link between the timing of MMR and autism in their definitive 2004 MMR/autism study (this is the subject of the film Vaxxed). Since then many other whistleblowers have also come forward. There are at least 13 whistleblowers currently at the CDC. The vast majority of mumps and whooping cough cases now are in vaccinated individuals (Merck is being sued for falsifying the effectiveness of the mumps portion of MMR) and of course we know the flu vaccine is not effective. There is currently a vaccine strain polio outbreak in Syria, but of course the WHO recommends yet more polio vaccine (which caused the outbreak). Live virus vaccines (MMR, chickenpox, shingles, rotavirus, nasal flu vaccine) shed for weeks, potentially spreading the viruses through unsuspecting and well meaning vaccine recipients. The fact that Hep B is routinely given to every newborn in the United States should raise anyone’s eyebrows. Then there is the issue of pharmaceutical industry corruption and its influence on health policy–a serious and pervasive enough problem that Harvard’s Center for Ethics devoted a whole journal to it a few years back: https://ethics.harvard.edu/news/institutional-corruption-and-pharmaceutical-policy. But even if none of the above were a reality, mandating a medical procedure or pharmaceutical for anyone is jumping onto a very, very slippery slope and a violation on the deepest level of personal freedom and autonomy. It has no place in a free society and even less place in a place of worship.
Erin Peter Allen says
Heartbreaking. But this letter… so well done.
Waste Nottingham says
if you’re not going to name the church, you don’t get it … waste of time, yours ours … geez
KathyW says
Which church is it?
Mikki says
Yes, do tell somebody!
Jill Boman says
Thank you for your kind and very thoughtful words, Jean!
Mikki says
Please somebody! What is the name of this church, denomination, location?
Jean says
https://jameslyonsweiler.com/2016/05/10/mandatory-vaccines-will-your-state-senator-run-from-their-duty-too/
A question from a credible scientist to Dr. Richard Pan.
Kathy Palmer says
I belong to a mega church in Northern California. They have VBS for 3 different weeks. They have over a 1000 children each week. They did not require vaccines. My granddaughter who had vaccine injury as a baby, and no vaccines since, was a camp leader. There were no outbreaks of disease. I wonder if that church in question, that requires all the children to be fully vaccinated for VBS, requires children to be vaccinated to come to Sunday School? I wonder if the adult Sunday School leaders have to be fully vaccinated? How about all the adults who come to church on Sunday, do they need to be vaccinated? It is getting crazy out there when churches act this way.
Brooke Shambley says
That vaccine memorandum by Focus on the Family is a complete let down. I’m so disappointed in them . . .
cathid says
“We have developed a new HDCS, Walvax-2, which we derived from the lung tissue of a 3-month-old fetus. We established primary, master and working cell banks successfully from reconstituted frozen cells” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25803132
Jean says
In all respect, I don’t see that as a State or even a Country issue. It is a worldwide major takeover by the medical/pharmaceutical evil corporations and Elite that are in despair to push their agenda to its final state. I am French Canadian and none of my children or grandchildren are vaccinated and they are as much healthy and energetic as it is possible to be. I am as much preoccupied for what is happening to my grandchildren than to what is happening to the children from California or the ones from Africa. Every child in the world that is vaccinated is damaged in one-way or the other (sometime soon after the vaccine and other times many years later.
I have studied intensively the vaccines and the vaccines agenda worldwide for the last 8 years. I spent several thousand hours to find the truth about vaccines (being pro-vaccine at the beginning of my research and looking at true independent scientific data). I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit one thing during this quest: Help me to find the truth regarding vaccines, not what I want to hear or to prove, but what is right for our children? Unfortunately, the answer that I found was not what I had expected…and this, not just about the vaccines but also about many other things going on in our world.
I realized that we are at a very critical crossroad of our evolution. We cannot continue anymore to individually protect our own small territory. We are all attached together in this battle for Love, Truth and Justice. Jesus said: (John 15) 12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 “Greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
California can lead the world into that crusade. We are all related to what would result from this ultimate attack to our basic human rights from the establishment in California )SB 277). Evil people like Dr. Richard Pan, Governor Brown, Dr. Paul Offit, etc. that are putting their personal financial interest before the health of the children and the God given rights of the parents, have to be silenced. Del Bigtree (from California), Polly Tommey, Dr. Andrew Wakefield and others are true heroes working tirelessly for the truth to emerge regarding vaccines and the corruption at the high level of the Center for Decease Control (CDC). The movie Vaxxed (Cover up to Catastrophe) is about to awake the entire world about the lies that are presented as the truth in our world. For the future of our children and grandchildren, we all need to join the movement and work together to stop this evil agenda that is clearly and statistically destroying the lives of our children.
The people that remain connected with the Holy Spirit and with their Soul could not be mislead in this debate. The danger for all of us is to be disconnected with our God given intuition that is the integral part of our Soul, which clearly knows what is right or wrong. This is what the Great Deceiver with the help of his servants at work in this world is presently doing so well. Keeping our brain and our senses over stimulated, making our Soul and the Soul of our children totally dominated by their brain and if possible destroying the families… the last bastion preventing them to celebrate their victory.
Every one of us needs to go back deeply inside our Soul and to sincerely and humbly ask God and the Holy Spirit for guidance and clarity in this critical debate regarding the future of our parent’s God given rights and about the official position from our institutions (Churches, Governments, politicians, etc.) in this debate. I am convinced that we would find some good and some bad ones.
As Jesus said: (Matthew 7) 15 “Watch for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 “By their fruit you will recognize them.” 18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” 19 “ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 20 “ This, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
Most sincerely,
Jean, Canada
Michele says
May I ask what church? I live in California. We usually do vbs but timing this year didn’t work for us. Thanks!
Rachel says
Excellent letter, Jill! Thank you for making this public so other churches do not follow suit. Please keep us posted on the outcome and response of the Pastor and church. Also, please consider mailing this to other Christian organizations like FOTF, who’ve come out saying it is our civil duty to vaccinate. The church definitely needs to wake up to this issue!
Emily Sirbaugh says
Vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue. Therefore it is against Christianity to use such a product produced from aborted babies. That’s what id tell them then id ask them of they now condone abortion but see, I wouldn’t SEND my child off to something like this anyways as I need to know what he is learning. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to educate my child anyways.
Allyson Bossie says
I’d have to tell the Pastor my family is taking a vacay from Jesus and church. Sorry, but pretty sure Jesus isn’t down with poisoning children
Laura Steinacker Wellman says
Um no!
Chaya Foedus says
Whoa, she was calm. I would have sounded like a blabbering idiot, as I tend to do when outraged.
Jill-David Boman says
Thanks, Chaya Foedus! I definitely *felt* less calm when I heard about it, but I knew if I verbally opened fire with both cannons at them there’s no way they’d listen. I’m glad it came across as calm! Of course they may not be listening anyway (I’ve not heard back), but I’d like to hope!
Steve Runyan says
The purpose of VBS is to teach about the Great Healer. What message do they send when they say children must add a manmade substance to their God given body to do a better job at preventing illness than God can, before they may learn about the Great Healer, the one who could heal the sick, lame, even the dead! Isn’t this just a wee bit hypocritical?
Californians for Vaccine Choice says
They obviously are not equipped to conduct VBS.
Karleen Wiley Mauldin says
My thoughts are “Thank God I live in Texas!” And yes, they are going way overboard.
Eddie Peters says
Where?
Jill-David Boman says
This is a church in California.
Eddie Peters says
California is a huge state, without a location the validity of this article is highly suspect. As Christian homeschoolers my wife & I made guesses as to the location, she guessed it was near Sac ,I thought LA. Now we may never know 🙁
Jill-David Boman says
Eddie Peters I deliberately withheld the name of the church–I knew it would make people angry and wanted the church to have the opportunity to resolve it without nasty publicity. It just felt wrong for me to expose their identity. Plus the message in my letter applies to all churches who might consider a policy like this. According to my friend who had wanted to sign her kids up for their VBS until she realized their policy, there are people in the congregation now addressing it and trying to get the policy dropped. I’d like to give the church leadership the benefit of the doubt too–it is likely that they mean well but are just terribly misguided and uneducated on vaccines (as most people tend to be, unfortunately). Also, there are a lot of people out there who are disillusioned and bitter with the Church at large, and I didn’t want this particular church to bear any displaced anger in addition to well placed anger. My purpose in letting Kelly share the letter was to show people how far the Vaccine Mandate Monster’s tentacles are reaching and to provide an example of a rational and hopefully diplomatic and informative way of addressing the issue with people who do not yet “get it”–while giving them space to “get it” without feeling so attacked and put on the defensive that they don’t want to listen. Sometimes that can make people just dig in their heels more.
Cara Shelton says
Families should leave churches that are doing this … They may change their mind when their tithing income is drastically reduced.
I really don’t understand why this church (or others) think they need to follow SB277 for anything except if they run a private grade school or preschool. This is going waaay overboard in giving to Caesar.
Jill-David Boman says
I agree. I can’t help but wonder if financial support might be part of the reason churches like this might adopt a vaccine mandate–what if there’s a very wealthy and financially generous doctor in their congregation (who doesn’t yet get it when it comes to the vaccine issue) who insists they enforce a mandate? You never know, but it’s hard to imagine why else a church might do something like this.
Anastacia Schiele says
I am Catholic and my church does not do this!
Charlene Stoudt says
My thoughts? That is not a church I would feel compelled to attend.
Vicky Johnson Mitchell says
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS LETTER!! I hope someone with sense will read it. It hit all the issues that churches purport to hold sacrosanct. Let’s see if they really practice what they preach.
Tonia Townsend says
How ridiculous !
Heather Shaw says
Wow! I’m at loss for words! Churches are doing that?!
Renee Goins says
Preventing the gospel from reaching people…what are they good for then?
Kathy says
That image is not in the public domain. The painting is owned by the Musee D’Orsay, in Paris. You should remove it.
Jill says
It is true that the painting itself is owned by a museum, but the image is in the public domain.
“This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The author died in 1890, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or less.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_The_Church_in_Auvers-sur-Oise,_View_from_the_Chevet_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Jean says
Hi Jill,
I would like to thank you for your letter to the Church in California addressing their decision to apply the SB 277 Vaccine Mandate to VBS and Sunday School. I would also like to ask you to keep me posted regarding the response you would receive from the Church. The questions and comments in your letter are of extreme importance to help identify and separate the people and the organizations of good will with the ones with evil objectives in these days of maturity.
Your important letter to the Church is written with a lot of clarity and respect. For the people of good will that have developed their whole life around Jesus and God’s Love and that have being guided to study what happened with vaccines in the last 70 years and particularly with the acceleration of the last 6 years, the questions asked in your letter and the answers that you would be provided by the Church will clearly show its true color. I believe their decision could have been made by ignorance, however your letter and the available abundant scientific available literature should provide everything that is necessary for them to readjust their position regarding this.
At this time of the history of the world and closer to the harvest, each of us (individuals and organizations) would have to choose what side we would like to be…and this his what this Church would have to do like every one of us. Unfortunately or fortunately, we will not be able anymore to deceive our own soul. Everyone would have to choose. As Jesus said: (Matthew 7) 15 “Watch for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 “By their fruit you will recognize them.” 18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” 19 “ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 20 “ This, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
We cannot continue to remain neutral anymore when we know what they are doing to the children around the world. SB 277 is a really good example of how far these people can go to push their agenda and an irrefutable proof of their infiltration to our legislative, political and institutional organizations. The attacks to our basic human and God given rights are not even hidden anymore.
For the people that have been inspired and guided by the Holly Spirit to find and to learn the truth, we have the responsibility to peacefully and lovingly inform our brothers and sisters that have not been exposed to the truth.
I believe your letter to the Church is precisely achieving this objective.
People like you, Polly Tommey, Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree, Brian Hooker, etc. are true heroes and are about to change our world by showing the Dark Forces at work in our world. We all need to support them in their generous effort to protect the future of our children and grandchildren.
May God bless and protect you and your family.
Jean, Canada
Jill says
Elderdxc, that is a really good question. Here is why I landed on my decision to not divulge the name of the church: According to my friend who told me about it (and who attempted to sign her children up for their VBS) it is being addressed locally, by people in their church. So I wanted to give them a chance to resolve it, hopefully in a way that doesn’t involve any nasty publicity. I wanted to show Kelly’s readers how far the Vaccine Mandate Monster’s tentacles are reaching and provide an example of a constructive way of trying to open up a conversation about it (I hope my letter was constructive anyway). Also, this letter really applies and can be considered directed towards any church that might want to adopt this same misguided policy themselves. I want any and all church leaders to recognize the fallacy of policies like this, not only the ones at this church. I do appreciate your willingness to take action!
guest reader says
I love your very thorough letter and I think your decision not to reveal the name of the church in this blog, at this time, was the right one. Thank you!
Jill says
Thanks for understanding!
Gail L. Fitches says
This is a must read. Only in California will you see this insanity. When my son was young, he just loved Vacation Bible School, and looked forward to it. This insanity is beyond my comprehension. The truth is going to come out how they are literally destroying the health of all people from vaccines. The truth is coming out, as more and more children are dying and autoimmune, neurological diseases, and cancer are off the charts.
Jan Johnson says
It reinforces my opinion of churches, not worth much.
Jill-David Boman says
That makes me sad, Jan, and it was definitely not what I intended. Please don’t let this church represent all churches in you mind. This one has just lost its way (at least in this area), but it’s not lost to God. Neither height, no depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God. That applies to this church as well.
Kristina Bob says
Jesus says “let the children come to me, and don’t forbid them.”
The bible is pretty clear that excluding children for any reason is not acceptable.
Tracy Valle says
Jan, not all churches are like this. Mine had the petition to repeal sb277 in the back ready for anyone who was willing to sign it. My pastor even announced it at each service until we had to turn it in.
Jill-David Boman says
Tracy Valle Wow, that is awesome!
elderdxc says
Why did you not name the church? What’s the point of talking ABOUT the church that is sinning of we cannot confront it?
Dave Turboman says
I know the name of the church. PM me if you would like their info. =)
Susan Fielden says
Absolutely not. Vaccines are killing babies. That is a fact. Research it
Wendy Traeger Martin says
Robbie stole my issue which churches supporting vaccines. How can the church be pro- life and Pro vaccination? To stand in direct opposition of the other.
Tracy Valle says
The churches that hold that stance should tell you something about how strong their faith is.
Karibeth Myers Soto says
exactly. I would not want to be a part of that congregation.
Wendy Traeger Martin says
I really believe it’s more of a ignorance prob. But still…
Mel Nadzieja says
Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I also. You can have church in your home or with a friend. Technically, we can have church on Facebook.
Amber Canaan says
Oh heck no!
Gina Marie Garino-Tavares says
The church is saying aborted babies are ok for the greater good so I’d have to leave due to their unbiblical stance.
Mark N Kathleen Visscher says
NO!
Guess I would choose either another church or skip that event.
Sara Sharp says
This is terrible. At the same time, churches do have the legal right to require whatever they like, I think. A church school of any sort would be legally considered a private school, I’d think. Of course, I would fight it if this were my church, by addressing the church authorities, and appealing to common sense, but legally I’m not sure there’s any recourse. It’s a double edged sword.
Robbi Bittle says
First, vaccines support the abortion industry and second, our bodies are supposed to be considered temples for the Holy Spirit. The church needs to wake up, pushing vaccines. ..they already feed kids such junk…we are supposed to set the example. ….ug…
Eileen Foster says
Considering our bodies belong to God and not the State (Caesar), that’s an odd thing to require.
Danielle Marie Ross says
I think it will drive A LOT of people away. Sort of the opposite effect VBS is supposed to have. It was like when Focus on the Family stood with vaccination. It’s really uninformed if nothing else.
Flo LaDuke Richards says
It’s sad when there are huge areas of ignorance like that. They examine other things in detail but jump right on board with vaccines.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
I wrote about that here Danielle Marie Ross: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/where-focus-on-the-family-is-wrong/
Elaine NWayne Townsend says
Focus on the family has been off on several stories. I missed vaccinations story but I said if one more thing came up I would unlike them. They have not done all their homework on articles.
Mr Farmers Daughter says
Great letter!
Amy Page says
Quit going.
Kris Bell Slager says
That’s horrid! Especially when a lot of us choose to not vaccinate not only for “philosophical” reasons (that is, I did my home work and I don’t believe they’re a safe choice) but many of us don’t vaccinate for personal religious beliefs. (Our family believes our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost as the Bible says and we are VERY serious about protecting and taking care of that “temple”) Not to mention my moral objections to injecting substances created with aborted babies into our bodies. HOW can a so-called “church” push that?!
Brandy Mills says
Itching ears and false leaders…
Brandy Mills says
The Bible must be optional now. How are they getting around the whole don’t murder or harm your neighbor deal?
Sheila Bynum says
Exactaly VBS is not a school.
Janet Novielli says
I think it is sad when the Church becomes the tail and not the head. It is a parents responsibility to do what they feel is best for THEIR child…not to impose their decision on others. If you are concerned about your child…keep them locked up in your home!
Brooke Shambley says
VBS is not a school. That’s ridiculous. How careless.
Laura Stollorz Schroeder says
That’s insane!!