Guidance on Requests for Religious Exemptions
Dear Friends in Christ,
I have been asked to provide some thoughtful guidance for the members of our synod regarding requests for religious exemptions from receiving the COVID-19 vaccination. Our church has no historic or doctrinal stance against receiving vaccinations. In fact, our church has provided a clear public voice encouraging everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. We have no basis, then, for providing a religious exemption to those who ask us to provide one.
Here is a useful summary of our church teaching in this regard >>
I also recognize the complexity of the situation and wish to provide a few words of pastoral care both for those who may be asked to provide a religious exemption and for those who may wish to ask for one:
For those who may be asked to provide a religious exemption:
Serving as a pastor or a deacon or an elected lay leader of a congregation carries with it several responsibilities that we hold in trust for the sake of the people we serve. Among these are the care of the people entrusted to us and the discipline of speaking and teaching the truth. Sometimes these responsibilities can compete for priority as we exercise the various offices entrusted to us. But in this case, the responsibility of speaking and teaching the truth takes priority.
It is true that our church teaches that we are free in Christ, but St. Paul provides clear insight into the right way of understanding that freedom. In Galatians 5:13-14, he teaches us to use our freedom in care for the neighbor. St. Peter makes the same point in I Peter 2:16-17, going on to include respect for the government among his examples of the proper use of Christian freedom.
Let me encourage you in your exercise of the offices entrusted to you to speak and teach the truth clearly as your highest priority in this situation. Your responsibility of care is fulfilled in being clear that it is not appropriate to our offices as pastor, deacon or elected lay leader to provide an exemption to vaccinations based on our church’s teaching or practice.
For those who may wish to ask for a religious exemption:
I recognize that for many of the members of our synod’s congregations, our church is a place of refuge and safety. The more that the world around us changes and feels out of control, the more we value places of stability and support. Our communities of faith are often exactly that for us, and not only for those who attend services frequently, but also for those who are no longer in that habit. There is deep within many of our people a sense of belonging and a desire for refuge that rises to the surface in times of distress, even if it has been dormant for years. So it does not surprise me that in this most challenging time in our nation’s history, our people think of church as a place to run for help, for safety, for comfort – and even as a place to obtain a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination.
If you are to ask for this, let me ask you first to sort out a few things as honestly as you can. First, and most practically, have you received a vaccination against any other health threat? Have you received a flu shot or had to get other shots in order to travel out of the country? Or have you had your children vaccinated against diptheria and tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella? If so, then it seems likely that there is something else deeply troubling you than a strictly religious objection to vaccines.
Our congregations are exactly the right place to bring those other concerns, the deeply troubling questions of life that people have faced in every generation: What makes my relationship with God right? And how shall I live in community with my neighbors? What is the freedom of the Gospel, and how does that inform my choices in daily life? How does the Bible tell me what I should or should not do? What is the relationship between faith and government? For honest conversation about all these questions, I can think of no better place to go than your congregation.
If you truly have never received a vaccination against any health threat or provided for your children to receive a vaccination of any kind, then it is clear that you have a definite and consistent objection that should be honored in some way. However, a congregation of our synod cannot provide that recognition for you. Our church does not have any historic teaching or doctrine that would reach that conclusion; in fact, our church has provided a public voice strongly encouraging everyone who is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination as a matter of care for the neighbor.
I find that our church’s teaching on many social issues can be traced directly to Jesus’ answer about the greatest commandment: we are to love God with our whole being, and love our neighbor as ourselves. In this time of global pandemic, it is the love of neighbor that has led me to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, so that my body itself is helping to keep my neighbor from getting sick.
With you in Christ,
Bishop Kurt F. Kusserow