Clergy and Imams Preach faith to COVID vaccine doubters
Clergy and Imams Preach faith to COVID vaccine doubters During a recent Sunday service at the Gathering Place, an evangelical church in Orlando, Fla., the Rev. Gabriel Salguero focused his sermon on the Covid-19 vaccine, and the fear and suspicion that his largely Latino congregation clutches so tightly. He turned to the New Testament: the parable of the good Samaritan, about the importance of aiding the stranger.
“In getting yourself vaccinated, you are helping your neighbor,” he preached to about 300 masked and socially distanced worshipers. “God wants you to be whole so you can care for your community. So think of vaccines as part of God’s plan.” Dr. Uzma Syed cited a narration about the Prophet Muhammad in urging Muslims to be vaccinated. Credit… Laylah Amatullah Barrayn for The New York Times. Mr. Salguero is among thousands of clergy members from a cross-section of faiths — imams, rabbis, priests, swamis — who are trying to coax the hesitant to get vaccinated against Covid-19. By weaving scripture with science, they are employing the singular trust vested in them by their congregations to dispel myths and disinformation about the shots. Many are even offering their sanctuaries as vaccination sites, to make the experience more accessible and reassuring. Their mission is becoming increasingly vital. With vaccine supply expected to surge in the coming months, and the White House promising enough doses for every American adult by May, public health officials are shifting their attention to the still-substantial number of people who are skeptical about the vaccines. Winning them over is imperative if the country is to achieve widespread immunity from the virus and a semblance of normalcy. Some of the most potent reasons people cite in resisting vaccines are rooted in religious beliefs, and indeed one obstacle these clergy members face is the inveighing against the shots by their own peers. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently proclaimed that Catholics should avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, calling it “morally compromised” because it was developed with cell lines from a fetus aborted in 1985. A false rumor, taken up by some imams and rabbis, that Covid-19 vaccines contain pork byproducts pervades Muslim and Jewish communities. But clergy members who believe in the importance of vaccines are uniquely positioned to counter those claims. Pope Francis himself declared that coronavirus shots are “morally acceptable” because of the severity of the pandemic and the remoteness of the connection to the aborted fetus. With Ramadan approaching next month, imams have been holding Facebook Live chats with Muslim doctors, organized around questions like, “Is the Covid-19 Vaccine Halal?” Albert Mohler, the influential president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, announced that he would take the vaccine. In YouTube videos, WhatsApp messages and podcasts, some ultra-Orthodox rabbinical scholars in Israel and Brooklyn are endorsing the vaccine, citing religious texts.
Evangelical clerical activism that promotes vaccination, led by ministers like Mr. Salguero, is gaining momentum. This month, a national network of Latino evangelical pastors hosted a webinar in Spanish about vaccines with government medical experts. In the Biden administration, the clergy has a new partner. The newly reinstated White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has been holding a weekly call with thousands of faith leaders across the country on strategies for working with clinics to administer the shots. During the March 4 call, Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, who has connected with churches in Florida’s Cuban, Haitian and Vietnamese communities, said that faith leaders were crucial in getting vaccines to their communities. “There are major trust issues, there are major transportation issues, and there are digital divide issues,” Mr. Moskowitz said. “And what the church community has done is solve all of those issues.” Congregations, he said, “know the pastor, they trust the pastor, and the pastor is better than anybody at getting people to come out.” Medicine and faith In January, Swayamprakash Swami, a former medical doctor based in India who is now a senior monk affiliated with BAPS, a mainstream Hindu denomination, gave his blessing to the Covid-19 shots. Now the ancient Hindu principle of ahimsa, an exhortation to do no harm and revere life, is being used to encourage Hindus in North America to embrace the vaccine, said Dr. Kashyap Patel, a cardiologist in Atlanta who is a medical adviser to BAPS. American Hindu temples such as the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Melville, N.Y., are providing pop-up vaccine clinics to their communities. Vaccine hesitance is more entrenched among American Muslims, who number nearly 3.5 million. About a quarter of them are African-Americans, who have their own historic reasons for mistrusting the shots. Hagar Aboubakr, who runs an Islamic school in Howard County, Md., said she saw no reason to get the Covid vaccine. But as she learned of teachers at her school being vaccinated, she thought: “I have a responsibility to lead by example. Am I being selfish by not getting it?” She offered a supplication prayer, asking Allah to lead her to a good decision. She listened to talks by Muslim physicians. She consulted her imam. He told her: “Muslim scholars advise you to take it. As Muslims, it is our responsibility to do what we need to do to relieve humanity of this pandemic.” Ms. Aboubakr recently got her first shot. Imams worldwide have been appearing in livestreamed conversations with doctors from the Islamic Medical Association of North America. In the talks, Dr. Uzma Syed, an infectious-disease physician, explains vaccine science but then turns to religious commentary. Medicine has long been a firmament of Islam, she says, citing a narration about the Prophet Muhammad, who was asked if taking medicine for disease was permitted: “‘Yes, O you servants of Allah, take medicine, as Allah has not created a disease without creating a cure, except for one.’” “‘Which one?’ they asked. He replied, ‘Old age.’”