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Jesus Wants You to Get Vaccinated

No, Really, Love Thy Neighbor and Get the Damned Shot

Rand Bishop
4 min readOct 16, 2021
Photo by the Author

“This country belongs to Jesus. It doesn’t belong to Communism.”

The woman I heard yowling this claptrap on NPR’s The Takeaway was not identified by name. The segment was about evangelicals objecting to vaccine mandates. If fervent prayer failed to save them from illness and death, several of the interviewees contended, then God’s will be done.

There is so much about this posture that flings mud in the face of logic. Then again, this ain’t the first time faith and reason have been incompatible. Nor, I’m afraid, will it be the last.

Regarding sentence number one…

The assumption that Jesus owns, or even desires to own The United States of America is preposterous, and quite frankly, ignorant. Jesus never set foot on American soil, never stuck his flag in the ground to claim the “New World” in the name of a yet-to-be-assembled cult yet-to-be-established in His yet-to-be-deemed Holy name.

Starting a new religion was not on Jesus’ agenda. Neither did He ever aspire to lead a nation. And, He was not the least bit interested in being worshiped.

His message was primarily about ethics, not real estate ownership. And — spoiler alert!—one…

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Rand Bishop
Rand Bishop

Written by Rand Bishop

Bishop's latest book, the semi-autobiographical novel, Long Way Out, is available in e- and print editions through most major online booksellers.

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