Republicans and Democrats switch sides on religion vs. science
Mistrust of the scientific community is affecting the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. But research suggests the religion and science debate wasn’t always this divisive.
Science vs. religion
(RNS) As public health officials grapple with the slowing rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S., two groups of Americans stand out as being particularly resistant to rolling up their sleeves for the shots: Republicans and white evangelicals.
In mid-April, about 20% of white evangelicals said they would “definitely not” get the shot, compared with 13% of all Americans, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. About 20% of Republican respondents said the same.
How White Evangelicalsâ Vaccine Refusal Could Prolong the Pandemic
Millions of white evangelical adults in the U.S. do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Tenets of faith and mistrust of science play a role; so does politics.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta last month.Credit.Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg
April 5, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ET
Stephanie Nana, an evangelical Christian in Edmond, Okla., refused to get a Covid-19 vaccine because she believed it contained âaborted cell tissue.â
Nathan French, who leads a nondenominational ministry in Tacoma, Wash., said he received a divine message that God was the ultimate healer and deliverer: âThe vaccine is not the savior.â
Across white evangelical America, reasons not to get vaccinated have spread as quickly as the virus that public health officials are hoping to overcome through herd immunity.