This story was originally published by Daily Montanan: URL: https://dailymontanan.com This story has not been altered or edited. (C) Daily Montanan. Licensed for re-distribution through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. ------------ Gianforte's cure for COVID? A template. – Daily Montanan ['More From Author', 'February', 'Darrell Ehrlick'] Date: 2022-02-17 00:00:00 The first rule of journalism is to know your audience. The first rule of medicine is to do no harm. So, I suppose it’s good that Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is neither a doctor nor a journalist because he’s failing both maxims. In a remarkable letter written to health care professionals a week ago, Gianforte makes the tough job of being in healthcare during COVID-19 even harder by suggesting something that will inevitably cause more harm, while ignoring his audience. The letter, titled “Open letter to Montana’s Valued Health Care Professionals,” urges unvaccinated healthcare workers to fill out a one-page form claiming a religious or medical exemption, despite that with extremely rare exceptions, no world religion bans vaccines and many, including Pope Francis who is the head of the largest Christian denomination, has urged followers to be vaccinated. This form, which has a cocktail of meaningless words, tries to pass off discomfort as deeply held religious beliefs. Remember this administration couldn’t be more proud of itself for its work on passing abortion laws, which it claims show a commitment to being “pro-life,” while aiding those who have such little regard for life that they won’t protect their own or those nearby with a simple vaccination. I guess once you get outside the womb, it’s every person for themselves. Let’s be clear what Gianforte’s letters does: It means to meddle in the already difficult healthcare environment as doctor’s offices and hospitals throughout the state struggle to keep up with the two-year tidal wave of COVID. Gianforte urging healthcare workers to file a bunch of paperwork, claiming deeply held beliefs only adds to the burden of overworked staffs. For a governor that talks so much of getting government out of business, he sure seems interested in getting his government into the business of healthcare. Gianforte went so far as to put “a template religious exemption” on the state’s Department of Public Health and Human Services website. In a big red box. You know, nothing says “firmly held religious belief” like filling out a template. The definition the Gianforte administration includes is literally so broad as to include everything. Or nothing at all: “Under applicable federal law, an individual can seek a religious exemption regardless of whether the religious beliefs, observances, or practices are common or non-traditional, and regardless of whether they are recognized by any organized religion.” “..An employee’s belief, observance, or practice can be ‘religious’ even if the employee is affiliated with a religious group that does not espouse or recognize that individual’s belief, observance or practice, or if few – or no – other people adhere to it.” Having a degree in religion and having attended seminary, I can say if all of that were really true, there would have been a lot less study and far fewer rules. But it doesn’t take a theologian to read this and scoff. Gianforte, a man who ties his public person often to his deeply held religious beliefs, has undercut that which he says he holds dear. Those who have deep convictions and firmly held religious beliefs probably won’t need a form to prove it. For those of us who live by any type of religion or system of belief, Gianforte’s mushy religious definition seems more than a bit insulting. My own “scheme of things” – to borrow another phrase from the template’s exemption language – is exactly why I find religion so helpful: My religious convictions aren’t a fancy way I dress up my own beliefs as literal gospel. Instead, my religion and faith challenge what I believe and won’t allow me to always depend on my own “scheme of things.” To twist the definition so broadly and expansively surely gives credence to those who criticize organized religions as being nothing more than a collection of rules picked and chosen arbitrarily. If anything, this makes people who believe in any religion sound like nothing more than a bunch of kooky schemers whose only obligation is to what suits them. To add insult to injury: Gianforte closes by encouraging healthcare workers to reach out to contact him with concerns. “Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for anything. My door is always open to you,” Gianforte closes. And yet repeatedly the state’s largest nursing organization, the Montana Nurses Association, has requested a meeting with Gianforte to express their concerns, with no response. The nurses are frontline witnesses of what COVID and the lack of vaccination has done to Montana. Their members believe the administration has not done enough to thwart COVID and has caused more burnout and work for those who would care for the sick and dying. How much different would have Jesus’ words sounded if he had said, “I was naked and you clothed me. I was hungry, and you fed me. And when I was sick, you gave me a government template.” [END] [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/02/17/gianfortes-cure-for-covid-a-template/ Content is licensed through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/