Idaho faith: What should concept of mask, vaccine mandates be compared to? The Bible

My congregation partnered with the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in August to present an online seminar titled, “A Mask is Not a Yellow Star.” It is an unfortunate sign of these difficult times that there is a significant need for that conversation — and for this column.

How, I wonder, could anyone fail to see the insensitivity of associating mask mandates and vaccination offerings with the Nazis requiring badges targeting Jews for mass extermination? Yet since the pandemic began, this ill-chosen argument has reared its ugly head across America, especially among right-wing extremist politicians, who have on numerous occasions compared responsible public health measures to the Holocaust.

Here in Idaho, several legislators, including Heather Scott and Judy Boyle, have offered this insidious analogy, together with Ammon Bundy. Most recently, Nampa City Council members Darl Bruner and Sandi Levi made the Holocaust reference and compared the status of unmasked and unvaccinated Idahoans with that of black Americans living under legally enforced segregation.

Dr. Ryan Cole, who is about to fill a seat on the board of Central District Health, offered an equally offensive turn of phrase, describing the COVID vaccine as “needle rape.”

I’ve experienced this badly flawed reasoning firsthand, in emails ranting that my congregation’s policy requiring masks and vaccinations recalls the German-issued yellow stars.

Let me explain why these comparisons are so deeply misguided.

At some point in our lives, almost all of us are obligated to don clothing and/or other items that delineate who we are in various capacities. For firefighters, police officers, doctors and nurses, students, members of the armed forces and many others, uniforms are compulsory. All of us are required to wear seat belts when we drive, for the safety of ourselves and others. From this, we should learn that policies prescribing dress and behavior are, intrinsically, neither positive nor negative. Instead, their morality (or lack thereof) depends upon how they are employed.

Requirements enacted to promote communal health and advance the common good are praiseworthy; those designed to cause harm are malicious. There is a critical distinction between mandating measures that are scientifically proven to save lives (such as masks and vaccinations) and instituting cruel, evil practices (like the yellow star) singling out individuals and groups for discrimination and genocide.

To liken public health policies to the Holocaust, racism and sexual assault is an act of either ignorance or malevolence — or both.

If we are to live together, we must learn to recognize that while freedom is generally a virtue, it must be balanced with the needs of the community. As has been noted throughout history, “Your right to swing your fist ends where your neighbor’s nose begins.” Mandates that call us to care for one another are not Nazi tyranny; they are, instead, the embodiment of the heart of a biblical tradition: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”