Anti-Vaxxers Illustrate Danger of Overly Broad Religious Freedom Laws

[cbayer]

http://religiondispatches.org/anti-vaxxers-point-to-danger-of-overly-broad-religious-freedom-laws/

BY KARA LOEWENTHEIL FEBRUARY 2, 2015

In case you haven’t heard, the measles are back. In a big way. Cases of measles have been on the increase in the last few years, and this month an outbreak now reaching at least 94 patients has been tied to an exposure at Disneyland.

It appears that the source of this latest infection was likely either a foreign tourist or an American who returned carrying the disease from abroad, but the outbreak has brought renewed attention to the anti-vaccination movement (like this RNS commentary arguing that “Parents who do not vaccinate their children should go to jail”). What hasn’t been highlighted is the fact that the increased instances of measles and other previously-eradicated diseases in this country over the last decade are actually a cautionary tale about religious exemptions.

All states have mandatory vaccine laws for public school students, but almost all states (48 to be precise) allow exemptions for those who have a religious objection to vaccines. And 19 states allow exemptions for those with philosophical/conscientious objections that are not explicitly religious in nature. Although I haven’t delved into the legislative history of each of these laws, I think it’s a fair bet that when they were passed the religious exemptions were intended to protect a very small percentage of the population with religious objections to vaccination, like Christian Scientists or some parts of the Amish community.

It’s unlikely that the exemptions were intended to be used by the growing number of well-educated and well-off parents whose version of a “natural”/”organic” lifestyle has metastasized into vaccine science denial. There is a debate about whether the purpose of religious exemptions is to give religion special privileges or simply to protect religious people from discrimination, especially people of minority religions who may be disproportionately impacted by general laws that are made by people of a majority religion. But regardless of the reason, most religious exemption laws are, as the name suggests, only for religious believers. (In the military conscientious objector context, the set of protected beliefs was expanded to include a philosophical opposition to war that was of a similar scope and gravity to a religious objection.)

more at link

[DetlefK]

1. Dozens of conflicting religions with hundreds of conflicting denominations. And they all are right.

What if somebody demands the religious freedom to do A and somebody else demands the religious freedom to forbid A?

[cbayer]

3. Exactly. We have strayed way too far from the first amendment.

Protecting one's ability to practice their religion stops when it begins to infringe on someone else's ability to live.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Mississippi and West Virginia, are the only two States that do not allow religious exemption

I think you would enjoy reading about the Netherlands and Canada, where outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases have happened regularly due to Protestant sects around the Reformed Church. They've had paralyzing cases of polio in large numbers, a few deaths from it as well.
Religion plays a huge role in this problem around the world. America is not an island of isolation.

[cbayer]

4. Polio seems to be a bigger problem in the middle east and africa.

Not sure of the religious role in those areas.

The outbreaks in the Netherlands was in 1992/3.

The episode does appear to have religious underpinnings, but it looks like progress has been made since then.

I looked but couldn't find anything on a polio outbreak in Canada

I don't think America is isolated at all, but we have created and neglected a problem