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Australia: Over 2,700 Church Leaders sign declaration against COVID-19 ‘vaccine passports’

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – More than 2,700 Church leaders in Australia have signed a declaration addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, expressing their opposition to the proposed introduction of a COVID-19 ‘vaccine passport’ into Australian society. Titled, the Ezekiel Declaration, the letter attests that the passport policy is “untenable” and would “inflict terrible consequences” on Australia.

Australia has been managing the pandemic through lockdowns, but last month PM Morrison said a transition phase would begin when the adult population has reached 70 percent of people fully vaccinated. At this point, a vaccine passport may be introduced to encourage the unvaccinated to get the shot. Still, in the development stage, the passport would likely include permission to enter certain indoor spaces that will be off-limits to the non-vaccinated.

Raising concerns about segregation, medical apartheid, and the development of an “unethical” two-tier society, the leaders said Australian citizens should have the right to reject the vaccine, not least because “the vaccine rollout has been labeled as a ‘clinical trial.’” The declaration points out that a recent United States CDC study “shows 74% of people infected in Massachusetts Covid outbreak were fully vaccinated,” especially noting that four of those who were vaccinated were admitted to hospital.”

Moreover, the leaders object to citizens being required to take the vaccine against their conscience. In their declaration, the leaders attested: “Conscience should never be coerced. The conscience is one of the innermost expressions that animates an individual, and that allows them to worship God as well as obey a legitimate governing authority.”

Finally, the leaders abhor the prospect of allowing only the vaccinated into their churches: “We as Christian leaders find it untenable that we would be expected to refuse entry into our churches to a subgroup of society based on their medical choice,” the declaration says. “Our strongest conviction is that this gospel message is the greatest news ever to be pronounced, and includes nothing less than God’s free gift of saving grace, and the offer of eternal life to all who would respond in repentance and faith. To refuse people access to this message would betray our Saviour and everything he calls us to uphold.”