With all due respect, my friend, you’ve given an unintentional answer to OP’s question. Americans have become so convinced that there are only two sides of every issue and all of life’s problems are caused by the people on the side opposite me. This is a false dillema and plays directly into the hands of people who are most powerful. “United we stand, divided we fall”, indeed…
In truth, there are many reasons why people don’t vaccinate their kids and I’d be willing to bet that religion isn’t at the top of the list. Many parents are simply negligent. Either they’re too busy or stressed or incompetent or so unaffected by the issue that they simply can’t make it a priority to commit to the regular procedure of vaccination. Or they simply don’t trust the government or institutional authorities who promote vaccination. I imagine a lot of people are simply “natural health” fanatics. At least that’s what I’ve seen in California.
Anyway, I think it’s not very helpful to reduce complex issues affecting the world’s largest diverse population to mere frustrated axiom.
Even the Taliban are now in support of vaccinations.
Anti vaxxers are having a hubris that it hard to find in many other places of the world, but wealthy industrialized countries. I cannot speak for the US, but here in Germany the majority of anti-vaxxers are well educated (but not necessarily smart) upper middle class people, often with links to esoteric believes.
Religion is part of it for some people, but on the whole, this trend is the result of multiple issues with our culture, our education, our media, and a whole host of other things big and small. All of which have been exacerbated in recent years by bad actors.
It’s really satisfying to say things like “religious zealots” but the world is not that simple.
I agree it’s oversimplified, but I don’t think it’s oversimplified to the point of being incorrect.
During the pandemic it was overwhelmingly the hyper-religious MAGA types that were peddling that stuff… and I just don’t think that kind of misinformation ever could’ve (or ever will) propagated as effectively as it did without religious leaders and other ideologues abusing that sort of mindset.
Religion is a root cause, or at the very least (on a good day) a root enabler
All religion is a borderline cult and with that you can control: Peoples sex habits, Peoples tastes, Peoples beliefs and from there you can control their very core behaviors and moral definitions (What’s right and wrong)
Read up on how brainwashing happens and then read up on what most religions control and teach and you’ll notice a lot of similarities to bonafide cults. The only difference is Catholicism makes you not eat meat on Fridays and wears you down through indoctrination little be little, a bonafide cults will idk throw you in a small room to starve until you believe the leader is God reborn or something.
I’m not saying the world would be united and there would be no evil, but maybe if religion was never a thing we would default to logic and reasoning instead of defaulting “to a higher being”
To anyone who includes the education system in the argument about why people are stupid:
Teachers in those schools are either teaching through their ignorant religious lens or have their hands tied by the religious government. They teach them math, but not to think critically.
They’re taught to start their logical process with far different assumptions/givens than pure science. In what other circumstance would “because it’s written in an ancient book” be understandable reasoning.
I firmly believe that without religion, all those other “complicated” problems would not be nearly so complicated.
… Bad actors who all have ties to american religious institutions.
Education slashed by religious politicians backed by religious pundits and think tanks.
Media run by religious big wigs who push puritan religious values on their channels.
Culture pushes driven by religious talking heads who repeat religious talking points about religious traditions and beliefs on all topics from science to gender to race to politics.
Its still religion, youre just pointing at both of its arms and claiming its two people.
I work in vaccine tech (though mostly to make them cheaper or make them for things rich countries don’t care about). It is absolutely religion that is the problem in the US. Show me the atheists that aren’t taking MMR, TDAP, flu, hep, and covid. That’s not a thing.
Tbh I have no idea what sort of thing is going on in the US, but it’s not religion, I have not seen any of this weird shit you all claim where I live, like you said it maybe tied to conservatism rather than religion
Religion, plain and simple. Religious zealots turning their back on science.
With all due respect, my friend, you’ve given an unintentional answer to OP’s question. Americans have become so convinced that there are only two sides of every issue and all of life’s problems are caused by the people on the side opposite me. This is a false dillema and plays directly into the hands of people who are most powerful. “United we stand, divided we fall”, indeed…
In truth, there are many reasons why people don’t vaccinate their kids and I’d be willing to bet that religion isn’t at the top of the list. Many parents are simply negligent. Either they’re too busy or stressed or incompetent or so unaffected by the issue that they simply can’t make it a priority to commit to the regular procedure of vaccination. Or they simply don’t trust the government or institutional authorities who promote vaccination. I imagine a lot of people are simply “natural health” fanatics. At least that’s what I’ve seen in California.
Anyway, I think it’s not very helpful to reduce complex issues affecting the world’s largest diverse population to mere frustrated axiom.
That Venn diagram, tho
No.
Lol. Religious adherents make up about 76% of the population of Florida. Unfortunately I can’t find exact statistics for Broward County.
Meanwhile, the school in question reports that 89.3% of their students are fully vaccinated. It is therefore highly probable that the majority of those fully vaccinated children have parents who are religious adherents.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reports that Measles cases have been increasing across most regions mainly due to missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 years when health systems were overwhelmed and fell behind on routine vaccinations for preventable diseases.
The “anti-religion, pro-science” gang is surprisingly scared of statistical science…
Religion zealousy can’t be “it”.
Even the Taliban are now in support of vaccinations.
Anti vaxxers are having a hubris that it hard to find in many other places of the world, but wealthy industrialized countries. I cannot speak for the US, but here in Germany the majority of anti-vaxxers are well educated (but not necessarily smart) upper middle class people, often with links to esoteric believes.
This is entirely too simplistic of an answer.
Religion is part of it for some people, but on the whole, this trend is the result of multiple issues with our culture, our education, our media, and a whole host of other things big and small. All of which have been exacerbated in recent years by bad actors.
It’s really satisfying to say things like “religious zealots” but the world is not that simple.
I agree it’s oversimplified, but I don’t think it’s oversimplified to the point of being incorrect.
During the pandemic it was overwhelmingly the hyper-religious MAGA types that were peddling that stuff… and I just don’t think that kind of misinformation ever could’ve (or ever will) propagated as effectively as it did without religious leaders and other ideologues abusing that sort of mindset.
Religion is a root cause, or at the very least (on a good day) a root enabler
All religion is a borderline cult and with that you can control: Peoples sex habits, Peoples tastes, Peoples beliefs and from there you can control their very core behaviors and moral definitions (What’s right and wrong)
Read up on how brainwashing happens and then read up on what most religions control and teach and you’ll notice a lot of similarities to bonafide cults. The only difference is Catholicism makes you not eat meat on Fridays and wears you down through indoctrination little be little, a bonafide cults will idk throw you in a small room to starve until you believe the leader is God reborn or something.
I’m not saying the world would be united and there would be no evil, but maybe if religion was never a thing we would default to logic and reasoning instead of defaulting “to a higher being”
To anyone who includes the education system in the argument about why people are stupid:
Teachers in those schools are either teaching through their ignorant religious lens or have their hands tied by the religious government. They teach them math, but not to think critically.
They’re taught to start their logical process with far different assumptions/givens than pure science. In what other circumstance would “because it’s written in an ancient book” be understandable reasoning.
I firmly believe that without religion, all those other “complicated” problems would not be nearly so complicated.
… Bad actors who all have ties to american religious institutions.
Education slashed by religious politicians backed by religious pundits and think tanks.
Media run by religious big wigs who push puritan religious values on their channels.
Culture pushes driven by religious talking heads who repeat religious talking points about religious traditions and beliefs on all topics from science to gender to race to politics.
Its still religion, youre just pointing at both of its arms and claiming its two people.
I work in vaccine tech (though mostly to make them cheaper or make them for things rich countries don’t care about). It is absolutely religion that is the problem in the US. Show me the atheists that aren’t taking MMR, TDAP, flu, hep, and covid. That’s not a thing.
Can we agree religious zealotry isn’t helping?
And Christian Nationalist lobbying pushing anti intellectual legislation and measures.
It keeps republicans in power
Religion is a plague of idiocy, but that is not what’s causing this. Conservatism is what’s causing this.
Progressive people who are religious tend to be pro-vaccine. Conservative religious people and conservative atheists tend to be anti-vaccine.
Tbh I have no idea what sort of thing is going on in the US, but it’s not religion, I have not seen any of this weird shit you all claim where I live, like you said it maybe tied to conservatism rather than religion