Differences of Opinion

March 12, 2011 Blog Print Page

Over the past week, both the pro and anti sides of the vaccine debate have been posted here on Faith and Heritage and I, at least, have enjoyed reading both sides. I personally have not made up my mind on the issue, and the articles gave me much to consider. However, the exchange did get me thinking about the differences of opinions we sometimes find within the groups of people who share our ideology and worldview. Both Robert and Gen 5 are genuine Christians and truly conservative, and yet they differ on this issue. It is important to note that we can and should have these differences without calling into question the other person’s Christianity or conservatism. I am certainly not advocating moral relativism here; I am merely acknowledging that as fallen creatures who do not have the mind of God, even when we start from a truly Christian and conservative worldview, we can legitimately come to different positions on issues. There are some things which a true Christian conservative must maintain and on which we cannot have a “difference of opinion,” such as the deity of Christ, the importance of our ethnic heritage and identity, and the supremacy of God over the state. Yet there are other things, like whether or not to vaccinate your children, whether utilities and roads should be public or private, and whether republicanism or monarchy is the best form of government; truly Christian Conservatives can disagree on these and still consider each other brothers in Christ, friends, and even allies in the war we wage to preserve and restore Western Civilization and Christianity. This is not to say that we shouldn’t debate these issues or that there isn’t a right answer to them, but merely to point out that if we agree with someone on 95% of the issues, including all the important stuff, we shouldn’t sweat the other 5%. It’s okay to agree to disagree on some things.

If there are other issues which fall into this category that you’d like to see Faith and Heritage present both sides of at a future time – then please leave us a suggestion using the contact form.

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About Nathanael Strickland

Nathanael Strickland is the owner and chief editor of FaithandHeritage.com. He was born in Dallas, TX, grew up in upstate SC, and now resides in SE TX. He received both his BS in Political Science with a minor in Economics and his MBA from Clemson University and now works in project management, SEO, and web design. He has ancestors who fought with the patriots in the American Revolution, with the Texans at the Alamo, and with the Confederacy in the War for Southern Independence. You can reach him by email at editor [at] faithandheritage.com.

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  • Josh

    I think more needs to be said about Christians’ disagreement on this issue. I mean, I guess Christians are free to put toxic chemicals and strains of different viruses growing on living tissue inside their bodies, right?

    While not a a credal matter, is is a patently ethical matter whether to inject into yourself and your children Ethylene Glycol, Thimerosal, Phenol, Neomycin, Streptomycin, Aluminum, Formaldehyde, etc. Much less the moral matter of shooting up stuff strained through animal and/or human tissues, some of which has been derived from human fetuses.

  • http://faithandheritage.com Nathanael Strickland

    So you’re saying that people who vaccinate their children aren’t true Christians or real Conservatives?

  • Josh

    Nathanael,

    Just because you haven’t made up your mind on whether to poison yourself and your kids doesn’t mean this is a “don’t sweat it” issue for the rest of us Christian Conservatives.

    I’m interested in keeping the ethical “bite” in this conversation, and your post contributes nothing positive to the discussion.

    Seriously, you could have written this post about a host of issues, from whether to tithe off your net or gross, to whether it’s OK to wear jeans to church. Shoot, some write the same thing thing about sending Christians to government schools!

  • http://faithandheritage.com Nathanael Strickland

    You didn’t answer my question.

    “Just because you haven’t made up your mind on whether to poison yourself and your kids doesn’t mean this is a “don’t sweat it” issue for the rest of us Christian Conservatives.”

    That’s the point, there is a legitimate debate on whether or not vaccines are in fact poison and on the risks of vaccinating versus not vaccinating. Is a child less dead if he dies from measles versus a reaction from the measles vaccine? I’m not saying “don’t sweat it”, I’m saying that this issue doesn’t separate Christians from non-Christians or Conservatives from non-Conservatives based on which side you come down on.

    “I’m interested in keeping the ethical “bite” in this conversation, and your post contributes nothing positive to the discussion.”

    I beg to differ, many people on the anti-vaccine side seem to be implying that those on the other side are unchristian and unconservative and I view this as highly inappropriate. There are issues on which people can legitimately disagree; alcohol and tobacco usage is another issue in this category. Are there many people who simply take the god-state at its word and vaccinate their kids based on that? Certainly. Would it be wrong to knowingly poison your children? Definitely. But there are other people who have looked at the data and made the good faith decision that the benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks. Could they be mistaken? Yes, but they are NOT sinning.

    “Seriously, you could have written this post about a host of issues, from whether to tithe off your net or gross, to whether it’s OK to wear jeans to church.”

    You’re correct – I could have, but neither of those issues is being heatedly debated on this site at the moment. So I fail to see your point.

    EDIT: Finally, this formatting stuff is a pain in the butt.

  • Josh
  • http://faithandheritage.com Nathanael Strickland

    @Josh – you’ll need to retype any ” and ‘ that you try to copy and paste; otherwise WordPress will delete anything that follows it.

  • Betsy the Beast

    No point in discussing the pros and cons of vaccines if we don’t also discuss alternative preventive measures (and/or treatments if the infectious disease does occur.) We all need to get various viewpoints and angles on this instead of dismissing them out of hand.

    I mainly used a book by Julian Scott, PhD (with specialist consultants) entitled Natural Medicine for Children. Published by Gaia Books Ltd/Avon Books. It takes a Traditional Oriental medical slant but includes much more. No viewpoint is excluded that I can see. Wish I could say the same for the babypoisoning MD paediatricians, shills for Big Pharma.

    It is not a crime to get sick, last I heard.
    But I guess with the power of the orthodox medical establishment, soon it will be.

  • http://faithandheritage.com Nathanael Strickland

    Where exactly did I say these things couldn’t be discussed?

    I merely said that in the discussion on vaccines calling into question the other side’s salvation is extremely bad form.

  • Betsy the Beast

    I did not “accuse” you of saying that you did not permit such a discussion nor do I think any such thing. I guess I poorly expressed my wish that some people here would begin such a debate/discussion. I should’ve said, “Hey, folks, maybe someone here could begin a discussion of alternatives to treatment and prevention of children’s (and adults’) infectious illnesses instead of just discussing the pros & cons of vaccinations.” I didn’t want to start such a discussion because I am new here.

    Least said soonest healed.