Sydney, Australia
With Australians continuing to flock to be vaccinated against COVID-19, talk of COVID-19 vaccination passports have sparked mixed reactions from Christians and church leaders.
While more than 2,500 church leaders and around 21,000 members and attendees from major Protestant denominations have a petition sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison which warns the introduction of COVID-19 passports “would inflict terrible consequences” on the nation, others believe it may be a necessary impost.
A motivational sign is seen inside a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination clinic at the Bankstown Sports Club during a lockdown to curb an outbreak of cases in Sydney, Australia, August 25, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File photo
Dr Mark Stephens, a senior research fellow at the Sydney-based Centre for Public Christianity, says until the Federal Government mandates a passport, questions surrounding their use and restrictions cannot be answered.
“It is a question that cannot be answered because there is no legislation,” Stephens said. He added that he “would not support [it] carte blanche, but in some ways it would be wise to consider as a way to come out of restrictions.”
Dr Mark Stephens, a senior research fellow at the Sydney-based Centre for Public Christianity
Short-term easing of restrictions, like picnics for small family gatherings outdoors and for educational reasons “seem to make sense” but “anything further we have to wait and see what is being proposed,” he said.
He said just because something was open to abuse, as people feared, did not mean it could not be used, just that it would need to be carefully monitored if adopted, and only used for a period of time.
“The key is how we deploy it [passport]. It doesn’t have to be permanent [but] open to review. Abuse does not cancel out use – it means we need to be careful how we use it,” he said.
As Australian federal, state and territory governments consider the use of vaccination passports – with reports Australians will begin using an international vaccine passport within weeks to prove their immunisation status overseas, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously underlined that a vaccination passport was “nothing to do with ideology”.
“A business under property law has the ability to say, no, you can’t come in, and they can ask for that,” he said in an interview with Ray Hadley on Radio 2GB in August. “That’s a legitimate thing for them to do. And, they are doing that to protect their own workers. To protect their other clients. And, it’s not, it’s got nothing to do with ideology.”
Sight is unaware of any official statements concerning vaccine passports from mainline Australian churches. But among those who have addressed the issue is Anglican Primate Archbishop Geoffrey Smith, who stated in a recent pastoral letter, that “in time, a similar requirement will exist for COVID-19 vaccination”.
“A conversation is beginning across the wider community concerning mandatory vaccination and vaccination passports etc. I am aware that the Presbyterian church is having a national meeting in the near future to begin a discussion about whether unvaccinated people should be excluded from church services,” Smith said.
As “mandatory vaccination policies proliferate”, he said this will be an issue for all organisations around the country which include gatherings of people as part of their cultural life.
“Decisions about this may be taken out of our hands by governments which may make vaccination a requirement in order to do certain things – this has already been flagged.
“I encourage everyone who has access to vaccination to be vaccinated. Over the decades, widespread vaccination has led to the elimination of diseases which in the past have wrought epidemic havoc. Polio springs to mind immediately.”
However signatories to the petition – called the ‘Ezekiel Declaration‘, say the passport proposal is “a matter of significant concern”, and called on Prime Minister Morrison to reject it.
WHAT DOES THE AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION SAY ON VACCINE PASSPORTS?
The Australian Human Rights Commission says that if introduced, “rather than becoming a further requirement on top of existing restrictions, vaccine passports should generally operate in place of them”.
In statements on its website, the AHRC says it cannot provide a specific assessment, but pointed to the “guiding human rights principles for considering measures taken to advance public health” which were that they must be reasonable, necessary, and proportionate and must take into account “the potential for discrimination”.
“Until everyone in Australia has access to a vaccine, any introduction of a passport should include exemptions for those who do not have access to, or cannot receive a vaccination,” the organisation says on its website. It also notes that any passport would need the flexibility to ensure that people who are unable to be vaccinated do not face discrimination, “particularly in accessing essential goods and services”.
“For many Christian leaders and Christians, this is an untenable proposal that would inflict terrible consequences on our nation,” said the petition, warning that a vaccination passport risks creating an unethical two-tiered society and inflicting greater burdens on an already-stressed population.
Noting their concerns over reports that Australians were drinking more alcohol, having suicidal thoughts and experiencing higher mental health issues during lockdowns, the pastors argued that the societal cost of adding a ‘vaccine passport’ would “potentially alienate already desperate Australians and turn them into second class citizens”.
They say the government must not be responsible for coercing people into getting vaccinations, arguing “an individual forced to act in a way that is objectionable to their conscience will never be at peace, either before God or before the state”. They also argued that it was not logical in making vaccination the basis of participation in normal life, because it would not protect others – pointing to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study which they said found 74 per cent of people infected in Massachusetts were fully vaccinated, with just four hospitalisations – and that as Christian leaders, it was untenable that they should be expected to refuse entry into church of a “subgroup of society” based on their medical choice.
“Only our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ, has the authority to regulate the terms of corporate worship,” they said.
Stephens, meanwhile, warned that the Ezekiel Declaration appeared to be denigrating the efficacy of vaccines and misquoted both Health Minister Greg Hunt and Christian theologian Abraham Kuyper. He also questioned the petition’s use of the CDC example, saying the vaccine never claimed to prevent transmission.
“It is fine to talk about coercing a population, but I had a problem – including with using the example of the CDC study – that the petition appeared to be denigrating the efficacy of vaccines,” Stephens said. “As Christians, we present a voice, not about ‘what are my rights’, but ‘what is God asking us to do’?”
