I’m no religious scholar –but I was raised Catholic. I have life experience. I’m a human being. I can think and read and comprehend. So I feel confident in telling you this: No, you don’t get to interpret my religion for me.
Before I get into this, let me share a couple Headlines/Snippets/And such with you:
“There’s nothing in Judaism that teaches against vaccination”
(Except there is, based on interpretation.) –from an article about a flight attendant in coma from measles.
“According to experts, no major religious group advocates against vaccinations as a matter of official doctrine.” (To hell with those minor ones that do!)
From the above link:
“Islam in the United States, for the most part, has not opposed vaccination under the principle of necessity, meaning that vaccines are necessary for health, so they cannot be prohibited by religious law.”
Ah yes! The “AmeriPharmacan” Twist! However, Muslims elsewhere recognize that non-halal porcine products are in vaccines and refuse them.
“But what’s not as clear is why the religious exemption exists at all. ” –OMG, Really? That would be Amendment 1 to the Constitution of the United States of F*cking America. Number 1. Top of the list. FIRST *right*, in The Bill Of RIGHTS.
“It’s almost impossible to find a religion that has a clear anti-vaccine stance.”
–Same link as above.
This one is particularly interesting:
“In this article we would like to explore whether different religious beliefs are, in itself, real exception for vaccination or they are just a parents’ excuse to avoid vaccination.”
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not cover the topic of vaccination directly. Indirectly, there are a few canons that could be applied to vaccination issue. The Church recognizes the ability of human intellect to meet the God (canon 39), which is the foundation for the dialog with other religions, philosophy, and science. The canons 1939-1943 emphasize the virtue of solidarity in the world. By spreading spiritual values, the Church has throughout the centuries helped to create better social and cultural conditions for living among different nations. Catholicism should emphasize the importance of taking the risk of side effects of vaccination to strengthen solidarity with other humans. By taking this risk, people participate in the protection of the entire society, including those who cannot be vaccinated because of medical contraindications or have been vaccinated but without adequate immunogenic response.”
Macche! Using religion to push vaccination. That’s a fresh interpretation. (*ahem* Interpretation… we’ll get back to that word soon.)
Or maybe it’s not a fresh interpretation, as someone on my FB page pointed out that it’s a Jewish commandment to Guard Ones Health! HER interpretation of that meant to vaccinate. MY interpretation of that is to NOT inject poison into you body in a false sense of creating health –but to do the work of keeping a healthy body by proper nutrition and avoiding toxic things.
From: What Does Jewish Law Say About Vaccination
“Guarding your own health doesn’t only make sense, it’s actually a mitzvah. That means that even if you don’t want to do it, for whatever reason, you are still obligated to do so. The Torah is teaching us that our body is a gift from G‑d, and we are therefore not the owners of it and we can’t cause it any damage.
It is not enough to deal with health issues as they arise; we must take precautions to avoid danger. The final chapter of the Code of Jewish Law emphasizes that “just as there is a positive commandment to build a guardrail around the perimeter of a rooftop lest someone fall, so too are we obligated to guard ourselves from anything that would endanger our lives…”
Well, the greatest risk to my life are the side effects from vaccines, not the normal course of a mild childhood illness that provides life long immunity from further risk of death. (These illnesses are harder to recover from if you get them as an adult vs in childhood –and vaccine failure from fading ‘immunity’ is causing just that, a push into adulthood of what was essentially harmless in childhood.)
Interpretation.
We can’t agree on how to interpret a stop sign. Some say it clearly means stop. I know of some rural intersections where I live, where most observe the STOP sign as a place to yield. And don’t get me started on “The Dress” or “Yanny V. Laurel”
Here is the “I’m no religious scholar” thing popping up. I had to do some googling… I’m finding that most people say there are 5-12 major religions of the world, yet estimated to exist are over 4200 religions.
There are over 2.1 billion Christians, and yet, that can be broken down into 5 main groups… and those can be broken down further. Why? Because we don’t all agree on the interpretations. So we split up and we start new churches and new denominations.
Just because some religious leaders are interpreting their religious texts to fit this call for vaccination –doesn’t mean that I have to follow their interpretation. All Catholics didn’t start molesting little boys just because their religious leaders did it.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America gets it.
”The US Supreme Court held in Frazee V. Illinois Dept. of Security, 489 US 829, that a religious belief is subject to protection even though no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not advocate or require such belief. This ruling is also reflected in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended Nov. 1, 1980; Part 1605.1- Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion.”
I would ask all of you to stand up for YOUR religious beliefs and hold your ground. You can legally claim religious exemption in 47 states (fight to get that freedom back in the other 3). You do NOT have to belong to a particular religion to do so. Your God doesn’t have to be a person in the sky. GOD can be an idea. GOD can be energy. GOD can be a tree. GOD can be the 14-year-old running this computer simulation in his moms basement. YOUR religion is YOURS. YOUR interpretation of your religious texts are YOURS.
Jane Know It All 