An op-ed in New York Times targets white evangelicals' faith and political inclinations- specifically the mistrust on vaccines as the all-out cure for COVID-19- labeling them as obstacles to ending the pandemic.
According to the piece published by NY Times, it's the "deeply held spiritual convictions or counterfactual arguments" of white evangelicals in America that drive them to not get vaccinated which is counterproductive to the attainment of herd immunity.
The article went on to say that the opposition to the vaccine is "rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding wariness of mainstream science" as well as "distrust of institutions" and obsessions of conspiracy theories. The "sheer size" of such a community, according to the article, "poses a major problem for the country's ability to recover from a pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of half a million Americans."
It went further to claim that "evangelical ideas and instincts" have a way of broadly spreading internationally like the virus as it has earlier noted.
Basing on the data from Pew Research Center, the article states that 45 % of white evangelical adults, out of their 41 million population in the U.S, will make up the least likely demographic group to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Jamie Aten, Founder and Executive Director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, was quoted saying that "if we can't get a significant number of white evangelicals to come around on this, the pandemic is going to last much longer than it needs to."
The piece admitted that Americans in general are resistant to receiving the vaccines, but it zeroed in on evangelicals as presenting "challenges because of their complex web of moral, medical, and political objections." A more interesting observation is the need to pit evangelicals against the "scientific community."
To be fair, the Times article mentioned high-profile conservative pastors and faith leaders who have endorsed getting vaccinated including Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, and J.D. Greear. It was quick though to highlight evangelical leaders who are skeptic to the vaccines including Gene Bailey, a Bible Prophesy teacher, who reportedly "warned his audience in March that the government and 'globalist entities' will 'use bayonets and prisons to force a needle into your arm.'"
Others mentioned were an evangelical TikTok influencer who reportedly dramatized getting killed by the authorities for declining to receive the vaccine, and evangelical radio host Eric Metaxas for his "Don't get the vaccine" tweet on March 28.
The connection of some vaccines to abortion-derived cell lines was also mentioned as another reason for resistance among many evangelicals, but with a quick add-on that these fetal issues on vaccines were from decades ago and that "no additional abortions are required to manufacture them." Some vaccines, however, really were made using fetal cells. A more interesting note is the need to write that 'some evangelicals' see the vaccine as "a redemptive outcome for the original aborted fetus."
Denominationally speaking, the Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians were said to possibly be the most skeptic of vaccines among all evangelical groups. That's because divine health and miraculous healing were seen as inherent to anyone who is under the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Diseases, organic or man-made, can be vaporized by faith-filled prayers.
Also, there's the emphasis to stay rooted in the unchanging Word of God as means to protect one's mental health. This is crucial in the strengthening of the immune system to reject any harmful pathogens that could attack the body.
Of course, these were missed on the NYT piece as the piece's initial premise was on shifting the blame of the prolonged 'pandemic' over to the evangelicals. It rightly noted though that many Afro-Americans and Hispanics comprised the Pentecostal movement.
To date, a project to educate evangelicals about the vaccine is reportedly in the making. This will include "series of short, shareable videos for pastors, answering questions like 'How can Christians spot fake news on the vaccine?' and 'Is the vaccine the Mark of the Beast?'"
