Megachurch's Anti-Vaccine Stance Results In God's Measles-y Wrath

from the or-maybe-it's-just-nature dept

Here's a fun question: what if there is a God and he/she/it has a sense of irony? I'm not sure whether that thought is comforting or terrifying. For instance, let's say you're a Christian down in Texas and you belong to a megachurch.You're a good Christian, part of a good Christian community, and you go to church every Sunday to celebrate your faith. All good, right? Now, let's say this megachurch then tells its parishoners that they shouldn't immunize their children against the measles because the pastor has been spending too much time listening to Jenny McCarthy and a horribly flawed/fraudelant study done by a quack doctor years ago. Pretty dumb, yeah? Again, what happens next if God, or even just the universe, has a sense of irony?

Well, I'd say that the result would be religion doing what religion does best: performing a resurrection. Only this time, the resurrected is an officially obliterated disease that hasn't been seen for years due to vaccinations. You know this disease better by the name measles.

The latest measles outbreak is in Texas, where the virus has sickened 25 people, most of whom are members or visitors of a church led by the daughter of televangelist Kenneth Copeland. Fifteen of the measles cases are centered around Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas, whose senior pastor, Terri Pearsons, has previously been critical of measles vaccinations.

Previously critical means that Copeland told her parishoners not to get the vaccines over concerns that they cause autism in children. Make no mistake, no matter what your views on her religion, this is easily the most falsifiable thing Copeland has ever said from the pulpit. I'd suggest that people in positions of authority and power, including religious leaders, have a responsibility to not advocate endangering children. Could this be a form of child abuse? I'm not sure, but it's a discussion worth having, because when someone uses their religious platform to advocate the kind of nonsense that can directly kill people, that's a problem.

Now, to her credit, Copeland has since done an about-face and urged her community to go get the vaccine.

"Our children and even adults of all ages need to be immunized now to stop the spread of measles and prevent those potential complications," Pearsons said. "The disease is only shut down when all are immunized."

It's nice to see such strong, difinitive statements from Copeland that are actually true. People, immunize your children. Doctors know more than quack researchers and plastic-boobed playmates.

Filed Under: autism, kenneth copeland, measles, pseudo-science, vaccinations