2018-2019
Dear Mississippi Lawmaker,
We are pastors and clergy in Mississippi who are against mandated vaccines. We believe that forced vaccination is an absolute violation of our religious freedom. It is appalling that the state of Mississippi would withhold public and private education, as well as daycare services, for children whose parents prayerfully choose to delay or opt out of some or all vaccines on the Mississippi schedule when their God-given convictions lead them to do so.
There are several reasons forced vaccinations violate our religious freedom, but the most egregious of these is the link between vaccines and abortion. This is unacceptable.
Please consider these points:
1) According to the US Centers for Disease Control, 22 vaccines contain human diploid cells, cellular debris, protein and/or the DNA of aborted babies. This is plainly stated under their Vaccine Excipient List, as well as in the ingredients list on the package inserts from the manufacturer of each vaccine.
Of these, the MMR, Varicella, DTaP, Hib, and Polio are all on the Mississippi childhood vaccine schedule. Our children are not permitted in school, even private Christian school, unless they receive several doses of these shots.
The Bible clearly states in Proverbs 6:16-17 that the Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood. Exodus 20:13 says that we should not kill.
Many Christians have a deeply held conviction not to associate themselves with abortion under any circumstances. As Ephesians 5:11 says, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
2) Vaccine proponents have claimed that these vaccines were created using only two babies over 40 years ago. This is simply not true. Although two babies, WI-38, which was a female elective aborted baby, and MRC-5 which was a male elective aborted baby, were the final chosen cell lines to produce the vaccines, many aborted babies were tested to find these cell lines.
More recently, WALVAX 2 is a new cell line taken from a Chinese 3-month gestational-age female, aborted by the "water bag" method, being delivered alive to preserve the organs to be used in vaccine production. Before choosing the cells of this baby girl, nine other fetuses were obtained and screened.
Whether it was one or more than one is not the issue; we do not believe that any aborted babies should be used to make vaccines. Psalm 139:13-14 shows how God feels towards each and every individual life in the womb.
3) By forcing our children to take these vaccines, we are sending a message that we approve of the practice of using aborted babies for the manufacturing of vaccines.
4) By keeping vaccines mandated and liability free, we create a captive market in which the vaccine industry thrives easily and without a healthy accountability. That means more vaccines are being created with more aborted babies being used.
For example, the Ebola vaccine that is in production now is cultured on aborted fetal cells.
5) There is a general idea in the vaccine industry that their practices are
acceptable because vaccines are widely used. Mississippi can send a message to vaccine manufacturers that we do not approve of unethical vaccines, by
allowing parents to opt out and say no to them.
6) As ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are pro-life and believe sound
science and quality healthcare can and should exist without having anything to
do with the atrocity of abortion.
7) We do not condemn or judge parents who choose to follow the vaccine schedule. We believe each parent should prayerfully follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and carefully do their own research.
However, we do not want be a part of the continued development of unethical vaccines, and when vaccine laws are inflexible and we are coerced into using this product, that is exactly what we are doing.
8) Mississippi's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, specifically states that the government should not intrude on our religious freedom unless two criteria are met. First, it has to be in a "compelling government interest," and second, it must be then done by the "least restrictive means."
It is quite arguable that maintaining the most draconian vaccine laws in the nation is a "compelling government interest."
Mississippi's trampling of our religious liberty is certainly not "the least restrictive means."
Please give Mississippi parents their religious freedom by promoting and passing legislation that will give Mississippi parents the freedom to prayerfully parent their child as they feel God is leading them, just as parents are free to do in all of our bordering states and the rest of the country.
Respectfully,
A Concerned Group of Mississippi Pastors