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California, like all the other states, requires children to be vaccinated before attending school. But the law allows exemptions for reasons of religion or "personal beliefs". The recent measles outbreak is causing some politicians to reconsider this approach. The San Jose Mercury News reports:
Two state senators said Wednesday they will introduce legislation to eliminate a controversial "personal belief exemption" that allows California parents to refuse to vaccinate their children.
"We shouldn't wait for more children to sicken or die before we act," Sen. Richard Pan, a Sacramento Democrat who is also a pediatrician, said at a Wednesday news conference. "Parents are letting us know our current laws are insufficient to protect their kids."
Pan is sponsoring the legislation with Sen. Ben Allen, D-Redondo Beach.
In Washington, D.C., California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, on Wednesday asked state health officials to go further and consider eliminating the "religious exemption."
Further information:
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-measles-vaccination-20150205-story.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/04/health/california-measles-outbreak/
(Score: 5, Funny) by hoochiecoochieman on Thursday February 05 2015, @02:32PM
What do vaccines have to do with being a Christian? There were no vaccines when Jesus was alive and, as far as I know, he never mentioned them.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by LaminatorX on Thursday February 05 2015, @02:54PM
The Church of Christ, Scientist [wikipedia.org] is a fascinating religion. Having first learned about it from my old friend and having done a fair amount of reading since, it strikes me as a lot of Gnostic ideas about becoming closer to God by transcending the illusory material word re-imagined through the lens of 19th-century American Protestant thought.
They don't see medical practices as evil or sinful, but rather as a distraction from spiritual development. If you use material means to solve an illness, you may feel fine, but are still mired in the illusion. If OTOH you can achieve a state of spiritual conciousness that reflects the divine All-in-all, not only will the illusory material ills be as nothing, but you will have become closer to transcendence. (Or something like that, this is my second-hand interpretation.)
Bear in mind as well that this philosophy arose at a time when modern medicine was weak sauce and often harmful quackery. Bed rest surrounded by prayerful loved ones was likely as good or better a restorative approach compared to much of the contemporary medical practice.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by mendax on Thursday February 05 2015, @06:33PM
Seeking medical help a distraction from spiritual development? Perhaps. Certainly, having a positive attitude can help the body in healing itself, but only rarely does the body rid itself of something like cancer. The only "disease" that I know that comes from a lack of spiritual development is addiction, or so those in Twelve Step programs believe, and I believe it as well.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Thursday February 05 2015, @06:10PM
i ran out of mod points, otherwise I would have flagged this as "Funny", or possibly "Insightful".
;-)