Former Staffer: Measles Church Counseled Faith, Not Shots
Connor Barloon,Garrett Canlas,David Dotson
In the Eagle Mountain International Church, there was a belief circulating about fear and faith. These people discouraged others from getting vaccinations. Not a single family in the church had their children vaccinated. They believed that if you feared sickness to the point of immunization, then you were showing a lack of faith towards God. You were doubting that God would protect and heal you. Eagle Mountain had been spreading a lot of bad information amongst the members. Supervisors taught how to bypass the Texas law that requires children to be immunized. And what's worse is that the Eagle families spread this false information to families outside the congregation, putting others at risk. Eagle Mountain also taught that childhood vaccination would lead to autism. Eagle Mountain is part of a gospel movement which says that God wants to reward believers with riches and health if they recite certain Scripture, praying and trusting in divine providence.
Garrett's View: The fact that these people think that vaccines are against God is pretty messed up. The advances in science and medicine were to improve human life, and vaccines were created to reduce the risk of people succumbing to disease. Though it is important to keep faith in God, denying the use of medicines is the same thing as walking through a mine field. You pray to God and ask not to get blown up, that is just faith without reason.
David's View: I feel that by not using vaccines, we put God to the test. In a way this is sort of like how the devil tried making jesus put God to the test in the desert by saying an angel would catch him. I do feel that vaccines are very important and need to be used, but we should also pray and be faithful, but not entirely rely on our faith. God may have had a different plan for you than you wanted.
Connor's View: There are differing views from religion to religion to the government on vaccinations. There are some religions who are against vaccinations, such as the Amish people. However, there are many people in government who are trying to pass a bill to make certain vaccinations mandatory to protect the public. The Catholic Church believes that vaccines should be used to protect the public since there are no natural remedies that have been proven very useful as substitutes to these vaccinations. So to sum it up, it is considered dangerous and irresponsible to not vaccinate yourself and your children. The reasons listed by a few people for not getting vaccinations is because they are pricey, but with all the medical aid programs this is no longer a very effective argument. The other reason is that a persons religion may object this practice. So is it more important to protect people's religious rights, or to protect the well being and safety of the public more effectively?
The Video: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/29/ex-employee-measles-church-preached-faith-not-shots/?iref=allsearch
Source: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/29/ex-employee-measles-church-preached-faith-not-shots/