The retiring politician, a Catholic, made the claim during a valedictory speech on Tuesday, reflecting on the government's response to the pandemic.

He suggested that the enforcement of the vaccine mandates impinged on individual freedoms.

"If the impact of vaccines on transmission was limited at best, as is now mostly accepted, the law should have left more room for respect of freedom" Mr Perrottet said during an interview with ABC Radio.

Perrottet, who served as NSW Premier from October 2021 to March 2023, argued that mandatory vaccination policies were misguided.

"Vaccines saved lives, but ultimately, mandates were wrong. People's personal choices shouldn't have cost them their jobs."

Trust people to make their own decisions

He regretted enforcing these mandates and highlighted the importance of trusting people. "We need to trust people to make their own decisions" he stated.

Mr Perrottet became premier in late 2021, replacing Gladys Berejiklian upon her resignation amid a corruption probe.

After taking over the top job, Mr Perrottet oversaw the state's emergence from pandemic restrictions.

"When I became premier, we removed [vaccine mandates] or the ones we actually could, but this should have happened faster" he told the legislative assembly on Tuesday.

"If a pandemic comes again, we need to get a better balance encouraging people to take action whilst at the same time protecting people's fundamental liberty."

Cemetery of reform

Mr Perrottet also used his speech to call for changes to Australia's federation system, saying Canberra was becoming a "cemetery of reform".

"If we established Australia today, no-one in their right mind would set up the federation the way it is" he said.

"We currently have federal and state health systems that don't even work alongside each other. Rather, they actively work against each other.

"If we can't reform the federal health system after a one in 100-year pandemic, we never will."

Sources

ABC News

CathNews New Zealand

On the way home, rather than avoid the CBD and take the most direct route onto the Hutt motorway, I decided for no particular reason to go through town.

I knew about the protest convoy that had rolled into town earlier that day but assumed it would have been all over by four in the afternoon.

Ha! More fool me.

I intended to drive up Molesworth St but found my way blocked by protest vehicles of all shapes and sizes, from massive trucks down to cars that looked as if they were rarely driven further than the nearest supermarket.

Most were bedecked with flags - New Zealand flags, tino rangatiratanga flags and others that I didn't recognise - and slogans.

The area around Parliament was hopelessly clogged.

No one was directing traffic (I didn't see a single cop), but an escape route opened up through the bus marshalling area at the bottom of Lambton Quay and I followed a line of cars through to Thorndon Quay and the open road.

Five days later, the protesters are still there.

More than 120 have been arrested for trespassing, and some illegally parked vehicles have been moved.

Others have been ticketed by council parking wardens, escorted by police. But despite violent clashes with the police on Thursday, more demonstrators kept arriving yesterday and it was obvious the occupants of the protest camp on the lawn in front of Parliament were in no hurry to leave.

What the hell is going on here? Wellington district police commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell described the protest as unprecedented, and I think he's probably right.

Admittedly there have been bigger protest rallies.

I remember massive union marches to Parliament during the industrial unrest of the late 1960s and 70s - in particular, one that followed the Arbitration Court's nil wage order in 1968.

Protests against the Vietnam War, the Security Intelligence Service and the 1981 Springbok tour also attracted thousands - far more, I would guess, than we saw on Tuesday*.

Students and unionists typically made up the bulk of the protesters.

But what happened in Wellington this week was different.

The protesters of the 60s, 70s and 80s made their point, let off steam and drifted off to the pub.

There was anger, but it was often tempered by jollity and humour, especially on those union marches. The mood this time seems darker and more febrile.

And the differences go far beyond that.

The public always knew what those protests were about. It was generally clear who organised them and what they were trying to achieve, even if their objectives were sometimes fanciful.

By way of contrast, the organisers of the so-called Freedom Convoy have kept a profile so low as to be invisible.

There seems to be no official spokesman or spokeswoman. Not until today did I learn on Stuff about the identity of at least one of the key figures.

Parnell has remarked on an "absence of leadership" that made it hard for police to deal with organisers.

Yet someone initiated and co-ordinated it.

These things don't happen magically and spontaneously.

Who's behind the protest, and why have they apparently been reluctant to step out from the shadows?

Public understanding of the protest, and possibly even sympathy for it, might be enhanced if someone was prepared to step forward and coherently explain their purpose.

It's called transparency, and its absence breeds suspicion.

Ah yes, their purpose.

That's another thing.

While the protest is nominally about the unfairness of the vaccination mandate that stops the unvaxxed from participating in society, even to the point of preventing them from earning a living, the message has been blurred by a miscellany of other grievances, not all of them related: Three Waters, Donald Trump's supposedly stolen election and Maori sovereignty, to name just three. Plus there's a strong element of religious fervour.

If there's a common factor, it's resentment and distrust of what is seen as an authoritarian government.

This hostility extends to people who are seen as agents of those in power - most notably the news media.

In fact it's possible that the reason we haven't heard much from the protest organisers is that reporters have been unwilling, or perhaps too frightened, to seek them out, preferring to get their information from official sources such as the police and politicians.

The result is a one-sided view that leaves us inadequately informed about the nature of the event, and the protesters more convinced than ever that the media are aligned with the government against them.

And just as the motivation for the protest hasn't always been obvious, so too there has been a lack of clarity about the objective - a point made by John Minto, who should know a thing or two about protests.

Minto says the Freedom Convoy lacks a strategy and an objective and is therefore bound to fail.

That might be an overstatement, but it's certainly true that the public is unlikely to get behind a protest if they don't know what its purpose is.

This brings us back to the lack of a spokesman or spokeswoman to clearly articulate the protesters' grievance(s) and objective(s).

Presumably, we can assume that if nothing else, the protesters at the very least want to attract wider public support - but there again, they blew it.

New Zealanders generally support the right to protest and may even take the view that the grounds of Parliament are a symbolically powerful place to do it, regardless of Trevor Mallard's preciousness.

But tolerance of the right to protest soon runs out when the protesters obstruct other New Zealanders from going about their lawful business, and it runs out even more quickly when protesters abuse people for exercising their freedom of choice by wearing a mask, or when they lose their temper with café and shop workers who refuse to serve them because laws over which they have no control say they can't.

That's no way to build public goodwill.

There's a massive PR problem, right there.

The majority of the protesters may be polite and non-aggressive - in fact, I'm sure they are; but if a minority exhibits arrogance, irrational anger and provocative behaviour verging on hysteria, that becomes the defining characteristic of the event.

As I was writing this, an acquaintance who supports the protest sent me a link to a 50-minute video in which he wandered among the crowd interviewing people, apparently at random.

It's easy to dismiss the protesters as nutters, conspiracy theorists and people with an anger management problem, all of which is almost certainly true of a few; but many of the interviewees struck me as calm, articulate, intelligent and motivated by valid, deeply felt beliefs.

The thought occurred to me that if the mainstream media had taken the trouble to do what the video-maker had done, the public would have a far more accurate picture of this otherwise perplexing event.

Sure, there was some wildly emotive rhetoric and hyperbole.

One man referred to his grandfather who fought in the Second World War - allusions to New Zealand soldiers risking their lives for freedom seem almost obligatory in this context - and said "We're fighting World War Three".

He was worried about the Pfizer vaccine making girls sterile.

Another protester referred to MPs as "pieces of sh.." and one expressed contempt for the "gutless ....ing police" (exactly what he expected them to do wasn't clear.)

But others talked about losing their jobs, having to take their kids out of school, being excluded from family gatherings and being denied access to community facilities such as libraries and swimming pools. Some of it made painful listening.

These people feel mainstream society has made them outcasts as a result of decisions sincerely made according to their conscience.

We may disapprove of their beliefs, but at least we can try to understand and not reflexively condemn them as pariahs.

Our attitude to the protesters may be seen as a test of our true tolerance of diversity.

Incidentally, the video I refer to was removed from YouTube hours after being posted.

The video-maker was suspended for 10 days, ostensibly for violating community standards, and put on notice that he risked being banned permanently.

And we wonder why people like the Freedom Convoy protesters get paranoid about the suppression of minority views …

The novelist Lloyd Jones has no such problems getting published.

In an open letter printed in the country's biggest-selling newspaper, he expressed a coldly elitist disdain for the protesters - a rabble, he called them - and implied they were no longer New Zealanders.

"Prime Minister Ardern says you are part of New Zealand," Jones wrote.

"I beg to differ. You are of New Zealand, but longer part of it."

"How dare they?" was the tone of Jones' polemic. It was a chilling demonstration of the ease with which people who think of themselves as liberals can morph into excuse-makers for authoritarianism and enforcers of approved orthodoxy.

This is how the marginalisation, and ultimately the persecution of outsiders, begins.

We're surely better than that.

• Karl du Fresne has been in journalism for more than 50 years. He is now a freelance journalist and blogger living in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand.
• First published by Karl du Fresne. Republished with permission.

*Paradoxically, probably the biggest protest march of all was the "Kiwis Care" march of 1981, when 22-year-old sales rep Tania Harris led 50,000 people down Queen St. I say "paradoxically" because it was more in the nature of an anti-protest protest, motivated by public anger over militant unionism. It dwarfed a union march down the same street the previous day, when bystanders booed and hissed at the 4000 marchers.

Civil servants and anyone working in federally regulated industries who decline to get the Covid-19 shot will face unemployment.

In October, Canada's federal jobs minister added to the hard-line approach. She advised that anyone fired for remaining unvaccinated would lose Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

"If you choose to leave your job for that reason, my current thinking and the current advice I'm getting is you won't qualify for EI," Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough told CBC television. "The employer choosing to terminate someone for that reason would make that person ineligible for EI".

The minister's comments provoked a torrent of reactions. While many Canadians could not contain their exasperation with the unvaccinated, others expressed misgivings about the loss of EI benefits.

Ms Qualtrough's comments struck some as insensitive.

"There was no ‘unfortunately.' No hint of sympathy. Her tone and affect were borderline chipper," columnist Chris Selley wrote in The National Post.

"Canadians are enjoying firing the unvaccinated far too much," he wrote. "Qualtrough, her fellow ministers and the rest of the Pro-Vax Army need to take a step back and think about what the hell they're doing here."

But the minister's actions may reflect that more Canadians are becoming impatient with the unvaccinated. Canadians have embraced vaccination in large numbers, more than 83% of Canadians over 12 are now fully vaccinated.

"As people tire of this pandemic, their patience with anti-vaxxers is becoming thinner and thinner," said David Seljak, a religious studies professor at St Jerome's University in Waterloo, Ontario. "The government understands this and won't be afraid to impose the kind of very strong measures that you see being imposed."

"People have very hard views on the unvaccinated," said pollster John Wright of Maru Public Opinion. Their sentiments "are very much all or nothing, you get the vaccine or you are excluded from most societal activities and jobs."

Polls show support for vaccine mandates and passports for adults. An ACS-Léger poll found that 83% supported the introduction of vaccine passports. And 69% of respondents said, "they do not trust people that are unvaccinated."

Meanwhile, some messaging from the Catholic Church has caused confusion.

Some unvaccinated Canadian Catholics have been seeking religious exemptions. This is despite Canada's Catholic bishops promoting vaccinations. In addition, many dioceses have publicly reiterated the church's position on Covid-19 vaccines, declaring them to be morally licit and encouraging Catholics to get them.

However, the Archdiocese of Ottawa prepared a sample letter for priests to sign for Catholics seeking religious exemptions to vaccinations. The letter, leaked to the Ottawa Citizen, starts:

"I am a baptized Catholic seeking an exemption from an immunization requirement. This letter explains how the Catholic Church's teachings may lead individual Catholics, including me, (INSERT NAME), to decline certain vaccines.

"The Roman Catholic Church teaches that a person may be required to refuse a medical intervention, including a vaccination, if his or her informed conscience comes to this sure judgment."

The value of priests providing documents for Catholics seeking religious exemptions could be limited, according to experts.

When religious exemptions are permitted in Canada, "all you have to do is tell your employer you have a sincerely held religious belief. You don't need a letter from your bishop or your priest," Mr Seljak said.

However, Canada's courts and human rights tribunals "have a long tradition of protecting public health over the claims of individuals," he said, predicting most legal challenges to mandates would fail.

Canadian public opinion, meanwhile, takes a dim view of people seeking religious exemptions. The ACS-Léger poll found 79% of respondents "don't believe there are legitimate religious exemptions for not getting vaccinated."

Sources

America Magazine

Independent

Their support of the government's Covid measures is contingent on and only justified by, "the emergency situation as it exists at this point in time."

While all the bishops are fully vaccinated, they are concerned about others, particularly the most vulnerable while they adapt to the Covid world.

Moving forward, the bishops are keen New Zealand adopts rapid antigen testing.

Rapid antigen testing could offer non-vaccinated people less restrictive options within the employment, social, hospitality, religious and recreational sectors, they say pastoral letter issued last week.

Acknowledging the Covid restrictions, the bishops invite Catholics to embrace creativity in meeting the need to be unified as the Body of Christ.

"One of the things we have learnt over the past 20 months is that our identity as communities of faith is not ultimately defined by an inability to physically gather."

In their statement, the bishops note, with concern, the intolerance for Covid restrictions - especially the lockdown created ones - that give rise to the possibility of divisions developing in the community; they ask people to show ‘restraint and discipline': showing love, care and respect to people whose decisions are different from ours is in line with Gospel values.

"We know that the tensions emerging around vaccine mandates and the My Vaccine Pass are creating lines of division within families, faith communities, friendship circles and places of work," they say.

To ensure people can attend Church gatherings safely, feel connected, welcome and included without prejudice while remaining within the confines of the current legal requirements, the bishops have decided:

• In line with the traffic light system, Masses will be provided for fully vaccinated people using the My Vaccine Pass.
• Parishes, perhaps in conjunction with neighbouring parishes will provide opportunities for Mass, subject to Government-mandated number restrictions, for those who are not fully vaccinated.
• All those involved in public-facing ministries relating to church services and parish ministries need to be fully vaccinated at fully vaccinated Masses.
• Priests who are not fully vaccinated or who do not wish to declare their vaccination status will not be able to preside nor attend vaccinated-only Church events.
• When asking a fully vaccinated priest to preside at a service open to both vaccinated and non-vaccinated, parishes and priests need to give due consideration to any specific health conditions a priest may have which could make him more susceptible to the health consequences of being infected by Covid-19.
• Similarly, all church workers (whether paid or voluntary) involved in home-based pastoral care visitations need to have regard for the vaccine status of those they are visiting, along with their own health conditions which may make them more susceptible to the health consequences of being infected by Covid-19.
• Current restrictions on holy water, social distancing, Holy Communion in the hand etc remain.

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops

It is not the "common cold" that some people write to me about.

Worldwide there have been over 250 million cases and just over 5 million deaths - this pandemic is unique and dangerous.

As of last week, in New Zealand there were a total of 7,775 cases of people who have or who have had Covid in New Zealand, there have been 32 deaths.

The Coronavirus has disrupted our lives, and we all have a responsibility to continue to keep safe and help keep others safe.

About a month ago, while on a flight from Slovakia to Italy Pope Francis spoke to reporters and said he did not know how to explain why some Cardinals are hesitant to "get the jab".

If you are wondering about the Cardinal who is writing this, yes, I have been vaccinated and so have all the New Zealand bishops.

The Pope said, "It is a bit strange because humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines...As children [we were vaccinated] for measles, polio - all the children were vaccinated and no one said anything".

Some believe that Catholics should be allowed to claim conscientious objection to the Covid-19 vaccines on religious grounds.

Pope Francis disagrees with this, and said the vaccines are "morally acceptable" and could be used "in good conscience".

For well over a year now we have been reminded that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we can use the pandemic's disruption to begin anew.

This is a chance for all of us to think differently and hopefully to think of others, and not just about what suits me or what I see as ‘my right'.

To begin anew is not something we can do on our own, to quote Pope Francis again: "The Holy Spirit bestows wisdom and good counsel. In these days, let us invoke his aid upon those charged with making complex and pressing decisions, that they may defend human life ... we need a vision rich in humanity; we cannot start up again by going back to our selfish pursuits without caring about those who are left behind".

We have heard so much about how infectious this virus is, maybe it will be good to think about how at the first Pentecost God ‘infected' the world with life.

What can we do to be positive and overcome the threat of death and disease that has ravaged the world for months now?

How can we help others and help ourselves?

Can we ‘infect' the world, our part of it, with life and hope?

To ‘infect' the world we can take these steps:

• Implore the Holy Spirit to pour into our hearts the life of God, who is love.
• Be willing to open their eyes and hearts and to change.
• Do for others that which we would hope for ourselves.
• Give encouragement to those who are afraid of being vaccinated
• Care for those who are alone and struggling with the changes in our world.

The way forward is not that difficult, if we need hope for tomorrow then we give hope today.

• John Dew is Cardinal Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand.

The vocally loud and unmasked protesters took over the Capital's streets and pavements as they snaked their way from Wellington's Civic Square, through Mercer and Willis Streets and down Lambton Quay to Parliament.

At one point it seemed there would be no end to the protest as more and more people just kept coming.

They were very loud.

A local business person told CathNews it was one of the largest protests in Wellington she has seen for a while.

The protestors' message was clear.

They were freedom marchers; chanting a range of phrases in opposition to what they labelled an experimental Pfizer vaccine and the vaccine mandate.

They protested the lack of choice for other vaccines, and a strong distrust for Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

The pro-Government and uninquiring role of the media also featured prominently in the protest; one placard saying the "Media is the virus".

Many also opposed the vaccine roll-out for children, with one young person emblazoned in a hand-painted T-shirt reading: "My mother calls the shots".

Others protested lockdowns, business closures, mental health and the rights of New Zealanders being trampled on.

One protester told CathNews she was there to support Aucklanders' whose mental health is under pressure and their livelihoods in jeopardy.

"Jacinda's not interested in Auckland, Aucklanders and their struggle.

"Her kindness is just for the cameras, and is fake", she said.

Also among the protestors were a number of religious fundamentalists, claiming New Zealand had lost faith in a God who will protect us all.

Commenting on the role of pentecostal protest, senior lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Waikato, Fraser Macdonald says Pentecostals seem unwilling and are unable to accept epidemiological explanations and strategies.

"Pentecostals' steadfast assertion that the raw power of the Holy Spirit will prevail over the principalities of darkness has run up against the cultural and environmental realities of the modern world", he writes.

Macdonald's comments were amplified, Tuesday by a protester who told CathNews: "They've removed Jesus from the Parliamentary prayer and the vaccine is all part of a new world order, Satin's agenda".

This fundamentalist pentecostal agenda is however at odds with mainstream churches; Cardinal John Dew again today is urging people to get vaccinated in order to help keep themselves and others safe.

Speaking with a Wellingtonian after the event, a woman said she's re-thinking what pro-choice means.

"I'm pro-choice on everything.

"Choice is good, but these people really annoy me", she volunteered.

"They're making me think about what being pro-choice actually means.

"Do they have any sense of social responsibility?" she posed.

"This protest was just socially irresponsible", she said through her mask.

Other reactions also condemned the protest, calling it "shocking" and those involved as having a "toxic underbelly".

Among those reacting was Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who dismissed the participants, saying they did not represent the vast bulk of New Zealanders whom she thanked for getting vaccinated.

National's leader, Judith Collins however was more moderate, saying some of the messages were unhelpful, but that the protesters highlighted an issue of trust.

"There are people who don't trust the vaccine, who don't trust Pfizer, and who don't trust the Government".

"It is best not to dismiss them, it is best to deal with their concerns", said Collins.

On Monday, Singapore announced that anyone who is unvaccinated by choice will no longer receive free Covid-19 treatment.

Sources

• Supplied
• NZ Herald
• Stuff

On the list are those who work or volunteer in an organisation in the same campus or building as a school or early learning service. Churches and cafes are cited as examples.

Staff at churches sharing a building or campus with a school must be vaccinated if they will be there at the same time as students.

Church leaders who have so far refused the jabs - like Brian Tamaki and Peter Mortlock - could face being barred from their own church grounds during school hours.

They include City Impact Church's Pastor Peter Mortlock and Destiny Church leader Bishop Brian Tamaki - who is facing charges over recent protests against lockdowns and Covid jab requirements.

The vaccine mandate is intended to prevent or slow the spread of Covid within schools.

Vaccinated staff are much less likely to catch or get sick from Covid. They are therefore less likely to spread it to each other or to students.

Although children rarely become seriously ill from the virus, and those who suffer from respiratory illness are at higher risk.

Children can also spread the virus to unvaccinated or vulnerable family members.

Several thousand people within the education system are resisting the mandate, which insists:

Schools have a staff vaccine register by November 9
After November 15 people who have not had their first dose won't be allowed on site.

Churches have exactly the same mandate.

While most churches actively support vaccination, some prominent church leaders have come out against the mandates.

Brian Tamaki, the Destiny Church leader, has a private school within its church complex in Wiri.

Peter Mortlock's City Impact runs several childcare services at church sites. It also has a school on site at its Albany branch.

Mortlock says whether he is vaccinated or not is a private matter.

He says City Impact is "working through all these new and ever-shifting 'rules', just as everyone is".

There was a lot of detail yet to be released and questions to be answered for clarity, he says.

"We obviously want to work within the regulations and are working with all our staff and facilities to do so.

"As you know this is a very stressful time for a lot of people, students included, and we will be ensuring everyone's safety."

Tamaki posted to Facebook on August 18 saying he and his wife Hannah Tamaki had chosen not to be vaccinated "at this time".

Asked for a response to the mandate affecting church staff, Destiny Church spokeswoman Anne Williamson says the church has no comment at this stage.

Many churches have been actively encouraging their congregations to get vaccinated. Some have transported parishioners to vaccination centres and encouraged vaccinations from the pulpit.

A positive spin on community vaccination is the new traffic light system will give religious groups with vaccination certificates freedom to gather in larger numbers.

Source

• NZ Herald
• Image: The New York Times

While turning the unvaccinated away is a public health imperative, it is theologically very difficult for many religions.

Father Peter Nguyen of St Dominic's Catholic Church in Camberwell is grateful for an easing of restrictions in Victoria from Oct 29. This will allow him to hold a small Mass for people with "unknown vaccination status".

"I didn't want to say, ‘Sorry, you can't come' to the unvaccinated," Father Peter says. "Jesus was about including rather than excluding people."

From last Friday, places of worship are allowed to hold indoor services for the fully vaccinated, with a density limit of one person per four square metres. Outdoor services for the fully vaccinated are capped at 500 and services of up to 30 for those of "unknown vaccination status".

Most Masses at St Dominic's will require all people to be double jabbed and carry proof of their vaccination status. But a special Mass for those of "unknown vaccination status" will be held at 6pm on Sunday.

However, faith leaders do not need to be vaccinated to conduct a service.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged unvaccinated Victorians will be barred from most venues and events until 2023.

Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Peter Comensoli - who says Catholics are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated - welcomed Victoria's second to last opening-up stage from Friday.

Comensoli believes Victorians also need a marker when a unified gathering might happen. He says he will continue to work with other faith leaders on proposals that allow both vaccinated and unvaccinated people to worship in person safely.

"After many long months of isolation, continued forms of segregation within the community are deeply damaging. We cannot let this become the only way for COVID-accommodation," he says.

"As faith communities, we are here to support and comfort those in need and to be open to all regardless of who a person is or why they come."

Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann from the Ark Centre in Hawthorn East says most synagogues are unwilling to risk COVID transmission by allowing the unvaccinated to attend services or prayer groups.

"What I am seeing is the people most in need of a sense of community are the ones who aren't taking up vaccinations," Rabbi Kaltmann says. "I'm seeing people falling through the cracks of society and becoming increasingly isolated. I think once we reach 90 per cent double vaccination, the government must re-evaluate."

Bishop Paul Barker from the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is horrified by Mr Andrews' suggestion that the unvaccinated will remain excluded in Victoria until at least 2023.

"We are anxious that in society - not just in churches - we don't create a division or an underclass of the unvaccinated," Bishop Barker says.

Barker said he understood Victorian health officials were reluctant to set a date for when unvaccinated people could have the same freedom because they didn't want them to simply wait it out.

"But I think personally, if we get to 90 percent double vaccination and low case numbers, it should end then."

Sources

• The Age
• Australian Financial Review

In the midst of what can be a confusing scene, the leaders of some church groups have made their views abundantly clear, as they have railed against any mandates that would prevent people from attending their churches.

In their eyes vaccine mandates would represent placing the authority of the Government over the authority of God.

Claims like these, coming from a minority of largely conservative Christians, are never as straightforward as they seem since they stem from vaccine hesitancy and on occasion explicit anti-vaccine sentiments.

Nevertheless, they touch on important issues for churches in general as all will have to decide whether or not to allow the unvaccinated into services.

To turn people away from services goes against all that most churches stand for.

But it is unfortunate that much of the well-publicised opposition to vaccine mandates is based on the rights of individuals and the freedom to express themselves as they wish.

An emphasis far more congenial to Christian thinking is the opposite, and that is to protect the health and wellbeing of all within the community — both within the church and in wider society.

There is no hint in Christian thinking that the authority of the church is superior to the authority of government.

Ideally, they work alongside one another respecting each other and endeavouring to achieve what is best for all within society.

Biblical values emphasise the love of neighbour; service of others; support for widows and orphans — in our society this translates into support for the vulnerable, those unable to fend for themselves, those with compromised immune systems, the elderly and the very young, and especially those with chronic health conditions.

There is a communitarian thrust to Christian teaching, pointing towards the welfare of others, inside and outside the church.

In the midst of a serious pandemic, individual churches have to determine their own policies regarding vaccine mandates.

Since Covid-19 is a serious public health problem, the vaccinated/non-vaccinated dichotomy cannot be ignored by allowing everyone to act as they wish.

In public health terms, everyone in a church community is affected by the actions of everyone else.

No one is an island and so the decisions of each person have an influence on everyone else.

Individual interests are never to dominate, as clearly brought out by core biblical teaching to love God and one's neighbour and each of us is responsible for looking after those around us, in health terms as well as in spiritual terms.

If a government were to impose vaccine mandates on churches, churches should find alternative ways of meeting together, including in people's homes and on occasion in the open air.

Meeting as the people of God extends far beyond physical meeting together in a formal church setting, normal and healthy as that may be under most circumstances.

Vaccination is not a private matter since it impacts everyone else within a community.

In this sense, it is of considerable interest to the church as a whole. However, all are to respect each individual's position, no matter how much they disagree with it.

All are members of the body of Christ, and judgement belongs to God alone.

Not only this, we are all flawed, and from time to time we all make unwise decisions.

Since this is a public health emergency, people cannot act entirely as they wish; they are to act responsibly by public health standards.

Hence, if the church is prepared to allow the non-vaccinated into church services, the non-vaccinated have an obligation to be able to demonstrate that they are not infected, that is, to have negative Covid tests.

This should be possible once rapid antigen tests become available.

In fact, a large church may wish to insist on this for everyone, including the vaccinated if the infection rate in their area is very high.

All are to think of how their views and attitudes affect others, particularly those with a different position from their own.

Pay regard to the ‘‘weaker'' members of the church community, no matter how the weaker member is defined within the context of vaccination.

Who are those most in need of support?

A good deal of trust is required all around, showing ample grace and love towards each other.

In the final analysis, the church leaders have responsibility for the health and safety, and the welfare of all within a church building.

This is a general principle, extending far beyond Covid-19 considerations.

• Gareth Jones is Emeritus Professor in the anatomy department at the University of Otago.
• First published in the ODT. Republished with permission of the author.