In my recent essay “Vaccine Mandates and Crony Statism” I addressed the socio-cultural dimension of Covid vaccine mandates. Today I wish to focus attention exclusively on their relation to the church. I was spurred to this essay by my good friend Pastor Eric Anderson’s juxtaposition of two recent statements from the Australian iteration of The Gospel Coalition. Here they are:

The decisive shift over a short 16 days from “extreme concern” if the Australian government mandates vaccination for large indoor gatherings (including church) to “responsibility to love of neighbors” that requires the church demand vaccinations (or medical exemption) for attendance is not the most disturbing aspect of these statements. About-faces under the pressure of statism is an evangelical par for the course.