I knew this day would come. I just didn’t think it would come so soon.
It has now been announced by the New South Wales government that, once we reach the threshold of 70% fully vaccinated, places of worship will be permitted to reopen, but only to those who are fully vaccinated. The vaccine passport system will be in place for churches, and entry will be dependent upon an individual who wishes to attend being double jabbed. What used to be a weekly opportunity to spend time with God in His house has now become conditional on you taking a vaccine you may not wish to take. And that is unacceptable.
Upon reading that this would be taking place, I cannot say I was shocked. I knew that they would target religion at some point, given it poses a significant threat to the reign of tyrants. And that is what our so-called “leaders” have morphed into – power-hungry, unrelenting tyrants. The implementation of vaccine passports is the method to the madness that they are purveying upon society. It is a way to limit Australians in what they can and cannot do, imposing heavier restrictions on those who choose not to take the vaccine, most, if not all, for genuine reasons. In implementing such draconian measures, those in power have complete control over society itself. They can change the rules at a whim, and the people will have to follow if they wish to keep their “freedoms”.
But those “freedoms” they are receiving in return for submitting to the government’s will for them to get injected with a substance that is still in trial phases are not freedoms in any true definition of the word. True freedom is not dependent upon anything or anyone. And it is certainly not dependent upon taking a vaccine, nor obeying the government’s every unjust command. If you think this is what constitutes freedom, then you have no idea what freedom is.
Have no doubt, they will shift the goalposts again and again. They will change the definition of “fully vaccinated” to suit their agenda. You may possess some level of “freedom” by being double jabbed, but the continuation of those “freedoms” will be contingent upon you having booster shots whenever those in power deem it necessary. Your vaccine passport will expire unless you have your third shot, and then your fourth, and your fifth, and so forth. It is a never-ending cycle. The only way to stop the cycle is to stop giving in.
The sheer fact that they have now chosen to target public places of worship should be of great concern. If they can go after a public place like a church, if they can put QR codes on public playgrounds, what’s to stop them going after shops like Woolworths and Coles? They have already made it very clear that they are pursuing the path of medically segregating Australia, creating a two-tiered society, similar to previous times throughout history. So, what is to stop them from telling those who choose not to have the vaccine, those who they deem as “unclean”, from only being permitted to shop at certain times? It is not in the least far-fetched in the world that COVID hysteria has created.
But to the main point of this piece – the churches. There is no valid reason to be taking people’s opportunity to go to church, to attend mass, to worship God with their fellow parishioners away from them merely because they are making what should be a personal health choice not to take the vaccine. Each and every one of us should be allowed to make our own informed decisions, assume our own risk, and live our lives accordingly, free from discrimination. It is not the government’s place to be telling us what degree of risk is acceptable or unacceptable. It is not their place to be keeping us under lock and key until we submit to what they deem is the appropriate level of risk. Those who choose not to take the vaccine should not be ostracized from society for making a personal choice.
What we are seeing with this move in making places of worship only available for those who are fully vaccinated is yet another attempt to coerce groups of people into having the vaccine. This has already occurred in several industries: healthcare, aged care, construction, childcare, education, the police force, and for all workers in local government areas (LGAs) of concern. In imposing this new rule that only fully vaccinated individuals can go to church, those in power are now targeting religious people who want to attend their places of worship – Catholics, Christians of all denominations, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, the list goes on. People of faith are the target group of this latest draconian measure.
But the question must be asked: Does this not directly contradict the Australian Constitution itself? Section 116 of the Constitution states:
The Commonwealth should not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.
Preventing people from attending a place of worship because they choose not to take a vaccine would fall directly under the banner of “prohibiting the free exercise of any religion”. Thereby, it would be an act that is unconstitutional, and should not stand. However, as we have seen over the last eighteen months, our politicians have trampled all over the Constitution, essentially discarding it to the wayside while they make up their own rules.
This latest decision is a test for Scott Morrison. The Prime Minister has made it well-known that he is a Christian, but the question remains: will he stand up and defend the faith against his colleagues who are now imposing abject restrictions on worship? Will he act like David, standing up to the Goliath that the State governments have now transformed into? Or will he sell out like Judas the traitor, taking his 30 pieces of silver (or, in his case hundreds of thousands of dollars a year salary) and going on to rule with an iron fist?
It seems the real test now is for religious leaders. Those in our churches need to stand up to the tyranny that has reached their doorstep and send it away. They must assume the role of Moses, who led the Israelites out of the clutches of the tyrannical rule of Egyptian leader Pharaoh. They must say, as Moses relayed to Pharaoh on behalf of God Himself, “Let my people go”. Will they stand and fight for their people? Or will they render everything unto Caesar and willfully submit to the health dictatorship that now pervades over this nation?
The choice is theirs.
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Joel Agius is a young Catholic conservative writer currently studying journalism and creative writing with Griffith University. He writes on freedom, religion and the human condition, mainly focusing on the Australian and US social and political scenes. He also volunteers as a Special Religious Education teacher in State primary schools, and occasionally contributes to The Spectator. You can find him on Twitter or read his work over at his blog. If you would like to support his work, you can click here.
