{"id":29185,"date":"2021-08-23T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=29185"},"modified":"2021-08-23T09:11:08","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T13:11:08","slug":"calgary-church-to-require-vaccine-passports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/calgary-church-to-require-vaccine-passports\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary church to require vaccine passports"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was inevitable, I suppose, and the Marda Loop Church<\/a> in Calgary has the distinction of being the first: it has decided to refuse entrance to those who have not been vaccinated or who cannot provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test.<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s vision statement<\/a> claims that the church exists “to help <\/em>[vaccinated] people Engage God Everywhere\u201c <\/em>\u00a0and that it \u201c<\/em>will be a church where <\/em>[vaccinated] people who don\u2019t go to church feel at home.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

All this is being done in the name of science and to protect the vulnerable \u2013 even though there is increasing evidence that the vaccinated can be just as infections as the unvaccinated<\/a>. Still, Jesus did say “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and vaccinated, and I will give you rest”,\u00a0<\/em>so pastor John van Sloten must be on to something.<\/p>\n

From what I can see, this is a new church. As an experiment in exclusion, I wonder how it will fare.<\/p>\n

Read more about it here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Taking in the ever-evolving news on vaccine passports this past month, I kept wondering why nobody ever mentioned churches. If gyms, bars, entertainment venues and places of work merited strict vaccination policies, why not places of faith?<\/p>\n

Given the nature of churches \u2014 places where children and adults closely intermingle, where seniors and the immunocompromised regularly gather, where diverse groups share food, sing together, and meet in often small, old, poorly ventilated buildings \u2014 wouldn\u2019t a mandatory vaccination policy make sense? Wouldn\u2019t it be the Christian thing to do?<\/p>\n

And yet, I\u2019ve haven\u2019t heard of any churches making this call. Which makes it hard to be the first.<\/p>\n

This week, our church leadership team decided that when our church opens for live gatherings next month, all attendees 12 and older will need to be fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s a temporary measure, and there will be online alternatives, and unvaccinated people will still be able to attend with proof of a recent negative COVID test, it still feels wrong. Churches \u00a0should never turn people away, should they?<\/p>\n

Yet we do. The moment we accommodate the unvaccinated we alienate those who want to shield their unvaccinated children, immunocompromised individuals who are still vulnerable to breakthrough infections, and anyone else who\u2019d rather avoid the risk.<\/p>\n

Either way we make a choice. So, our little faith community has decided to side with the majority of civic-minded, science-trusting Calgarians for practical and theological reasons.<\/p>\n

Practically, more than 76 per cent of Albertans 12 and up have received at least one dose of vaccine. Clearly most Albertans trust the science. We want to honour their choice and make our space as hospitable and safe for them as possible.<\/p>\n

Theologically, the argument is stronger. To be a Christian is to model one\u2019s life after Christ. Jesus always put others first. He gave up his individual rights for the common good and sacrificed for the sake of the weak. He loved others as he loved himself and would have surely done anything to best protect the unvaccinated children in his neighbourhood. A Christian ethic always puts the vulnerable first.<\/p>\n

A Christian worldview, historically, has also been very pro-science. Shouldn\u2019t Christians be first in line when it comes to celebrating God\u2019s good gifts of vaccines? There is a direct line connecting Jesus\u2019 first century call to heal the sick to the hospitals that fill our cities today. Western health care started in early churches and monasteries, as did the movement that would lead to modern universities (and their capacity to do scientific research). For 2000 years, the spirit of Christ has been growing humanity\u2019s capacity to understand the biology of the human body \u2014 so that we can better care for it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was inevitable, I suppose, and the Marda Loop Church in Calgary has the distinction of being the first: it has decided to refuse entrance to those who have not been vaccinated or who cannot provide proof of a negative … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2636],"tags":[2679],"class_list":["post-29185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-19","tag-marda-loop-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}