Vaccination Aphorisms

When Christians are unmoored from love it dishonours Love. 

When Christians are unmoored from truth it dishonours the Truth.

Notice that the aphorisms do not single out individuals for criticism. As Augustine observes in one of my favourite passages, those who are sincerely wrong—as we all are a lot of the time—are to be corrected, but those who knowingly spread falsehood are culpable. I would add that those who abet falsehood are also culpable. David French, I suspect, would agree. 

Christian leaders charged with speaking about the Truth must also speak truth as far as they are able. This does not mean anyone can or should comment on every matter of public interest (especially in areas outside their competence). Stamping out fires is a distraction from the Truth-speaker's and Truth-seeker's vocation. 

But posture matters. Part of the humility that comes with pursuit of truth and love for the Truth is acknowledgement of the limits of one's own knowledge and a posture of respect for those with expertise in fields other than one's own. 

And sometimes—say, in a national health crisis when evangelical Christians are among the most vaccine resistant—the truth is called for: Get vaccinated.