Application for Religious/Secular Exemption from Mask Vaccine & testing Mandates

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     This article was started by Dave Leach R-IA Bible Lover-musician-grandpa (talk) 02:25, 1 October 2021 (UTC)
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This document begins with a 1300 word statement which may be submitted, without the rest of this document, as part of your request for a Mask/Vaccine/Testing Exemption, with your offer to joyfully submit more details if this is not sufficient to establish your "sincerely held" Biblical and constitutional right to an exemption. (This file, Part One, is about 15,000 words.) Copy as much as articulates your own convictions into your own Application.

For a free printed 36-page copy of this file, call 515-244-3711. To donate: The Partnership Machine, Inc.

My Reverence for Truth as confirmed by Evidence

The Facts Proved in this Application

Reverence for Truth Backed by Evidence is a Religious Motive

Reverence for Truth that is supported by evidence is widely understood as a pillar of “secular” America and of science, not a religious principle. But its plagiarism by American society and science without honest attribution does not undermine their deeply religious nature which is unique to the Bible among the world’s religions, and central to Judeo-Christianity.

This application does not object to wearing a mask ever, anywhere, or to a vaccine of any kind, but to a mandate justified not by scientific evidence or any search for Truth (as Section Two establishes) but by censorship of evidence combined with considerable fervor of a religious character (as Section One explains). The exemption required is from (1) any existing covid vaccine; (2) obsessive mask wearing; and (3) frequent covid testing from which vaccinated employees are exempt.

this application includes evidence that:

(1) vaccines kill a vastly underreported number of people, their long-term harm is unknown, and the infliction of these risks on young people whose threat from covid is infinitesimal is criminal. (I am not young, but I have a Biblical duty to speak for the helpless. If I may expect a reward just for giving a child a drink of water in Jesus' Name, Matthew 10:42, how much more for saving a child's life by exposing vaccine worship?)

(2) mask-wearing not only fails to achieve any “statistically significant” (documentable) reduction of covid, but causes widespread measurable medical harm to wearers, not to mention social, political, and economic harm (which will not be detailed in this Application because it is common knowledge).

(3) PCR tests are notorious for their unacceptable rate of false positives, not to mention their costs. Even if they were useful, they would be no more justified for unvaccinated employees than for vaccinated, because vaccinated employees catch and transmit covid as easily as unvaccinated.

These arguments for a religious exemption don't just justify an exemption for the applicant but for everyone; and not just for Christians but for everyone who values Truth. This Application doesn't just attempt to squeak through whatever conditions are imposed by employers on our First Amendment freedoms. This Application challenges the legality of unreasonable conditions, with strong legal arguments ready for courtroom scrutiny. Expecting victory in courts as they exist at present, yet aware that justice is perpetually under attack in courts, this Application stands on America's First Amendment, a standard of law superior to court precedents. It stands on yet firmer ground: the Bible, from which the First Amendment was only borrowed, and whose Laws have greater authority than the laws of humans.

This Application is a Manifesto.

My Religion Forbids Bowing to State-Established Religion

"False Gods" and "state-established religion" is the correct category for fervor of support for this disruptive mandate, which, having no support from any evidence, can only be explained in religious terms.

Masks, along with vaccines, are made into idols. Not just as a figure of speech. Reverence for them is enforced by social pressure as judgmental as reactions to blasphemy. They are made the icons and rituals of government-established religion. A very dark anti-Christian religion which shutters churches and keeps bars, casinos, and abortuaries open as "essential services". A religion literally preached in a literal sermon by New York's governor.

The claim of high moral authority, combined with a claim of a strong basis in evidence which is only sustained by censoring opposing evidence since it has zero evidence, identifies government and employer vaccine and mask mandates as the icons and rituals of false gods supported by blind faith.

God mocks Blind Faith (Superstition)

"Blind Faith" drives Mandates. “Blind faith” is what moves humans to censor, or otherwise destroy, any challenge to one’s assumptions. A few Christians ignorantly think the “faith” promoted in the Bible is blind, but the Bible is full of evidence, and challenges humans to test it, and then get in step with reality. But “blind faith” is the faith of other religions which offer no documentable miracles, no fulfilled prophecies, nor any ability to survive scientific scrutiny of those claims which are testable by humans.

Blind Faith in idols is mocked by God in several passages. For example, Isaiah 44:12-20, 46:1-9, Jeremiah 10:3-5.

Blind faith in a lie won’t make it true. Government pressure on citizens to physically, visibly, and perpetually participate in a man-made charade imbued with elevated moral authority fulfills every element of a “government-established religion” that I can think of. It is as stupid as our ancestors were, bowing down to carved tree stumps.

Not every stupid thing government does qualifies as establishing religion, but...

Evolution instruction qualifies, in which laws were struck down requiring all the evidence to be taught including evidence of a young earth, and students are punished with failing grades if they are persuaded by the censored evidence. Uncensored evidence is called "science", while censored evidence is called "religion", and those citing the opposing evidence are ridiculed and dismissed as putting "religion" above “science”.

1 Timothy 6:20 (AFV) O Timothy, guard the doctrine which has been entrusted to you, avoiding profane, empty babblings, and contradictions of false knowledge that is called science;

“Science” that Censors Evidence, while still Demanding Public Trust, Equating Blind Faith it itself with Morality, is in fact Religion

“Climate Change” political movements qualify, in which those citing the opposing evidence are marginalized, and are labeled “anti-science”, a term loaded with all the religious judgment of the word "heretic".

Mandates require Physical, Visible, Perpetual Obeisance

These do not come as close as mask, vaccine and testing mandates which require citizens to physically, VISIBLY, PERPETUALLY participate in the charade that these icons and rituals will save us, enabling the forces of social ostracization to see at a glance who to target.'

It is widely assumed that Mask and Vaccine Mandates cannot possibly be the icons and rituals of a religion since nobody "worships" them. While much of society treats them as sacred, nobody admits they feel reverence for them, or describes them as holy. But the Bible word in Greek for "worship" does not mean the inner reverence and consciousness of the presence of God that it means in most churches today, which may or may not be accompanied by outward expression. It means the outward bowing to, or "falling at the feet of", a king, with or without any sincere inward respect, love, admiration, or loyalty.

The Greek word προσκυνεω, translated "worship", means to "kiss, like a dog licking his master's hand; to fawn, crouch, prostrate oneself in homage". (Strong's Concordance)

The devil offered an easier way to rule the world, if Jesus would simply "fall down and worship" him. Jesus answered "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (Matthew 4:9-10) The devil wasn't asking for sincere reverence but "only" public validation; indeed, as much as most of the world loved the ways of Hell, God's Public Approval Rating was way down and would have jumped with a little validation of Satan. But Jesus answered that public validation is precisely what any Christian will refuse to any claim on our morals whose only support is blind faith.

For example, Mask and Vaccine Mandates.

If this has not been enough to establish my Biblical and Constitutional right to an exemption from your Mask/Vaccine Mandate, I will joyfully provide you the full unabridged argument and evidence, which is about 100 pages.

Introduction to the Unabridged Application

The preceding is an abridged (abbreviated/summarized) application which may be submitted as part of a request for an exemption. What follows is the unabridged version.

This application is especially for those who value Truth so highly that watching our nation being strangled by Lies alarms you as much as watching passenger jets slam into the World Trade Center - the danger from Lies being greater than the danger from terrorists - and motivates you to enlist in the Truth Army with all the patriotism of those who enlist in the military, to fight Lies alongside God. To fight as if your children's freedom depends on it. Trusting God to make your hard work fruitful. Knowing that if those most capable of discerning Truth humor liars to keep their jobs, we will lose far more than our jobs.

This example Application is designed for you to copy what you agree with into your own Application for an exemption so that you can keep your job, keep going to school, etc. without having to take the covid vaccine, wear a mask all day, or submit to frequent tests notorious for their high rate of false positives. It is very important that you copy only what you sincerely agree with and understand, because you are likely to be questioned about it, and your sincerity is an important factor, legally.

This Application achieves goals I don't think you will find even attempted anywhere else: (1) to establish the Biblical character of reverence for Truth, so that anyone who cares about covid facts and evidence can use it. (2) To establish that mask and vaccine mandates take on the character of religion, making them the "establishment of religion" that is prohibited by our First Amendment, which even atheists will love to point out. (3) To do well in the Court of Public Opinion, and in a Court of Law if necessary. (4) Through success for you, to launch a wrecking ball against mandates for everyone. (5) Through the "wrecking" of mandates for everyone via these Biblical principles, to neutralize "Big Tech" censorship and put "Big Tech" censors on Unemployment Benefits. (6) Through the neutralizing of "Big Tech" censorship via these Biblical principles, to advertise to the whole world how much the very supports of modern civilization owe to the gift of Truth offered uniquely through the Bible. (7) To  heal  the Democrat party which actively censors Truth and opposes Christian expression,  purify  the Republican party which defends Christian expression for others but will not itself, in those forums where voters where voters decide whether to fashion our laws after the principles of Heaven or of Hell, support its specific positions by quoting what God says about them,  return  American hearts to our Maker for whatever time remains before the End, and  shine  a light of hope across the whole world.

Section One  of this Application explains (1) my reverence for Truth and evidence, (2) the Bible’s emphasis on Truth and evidence, (3) Bible heroes who resisted health laws not based on reality, (4) why mask and vaccine mandates which cannot rationally claim support from evidence must be classified as “religious”, and are presented as false gods, and (5) what the Bible says about bowing down to false gods, and the importance of openly, decisively disclaiming them. Section One presents legal analysis of the First Amendment prohibition of “establishment of religion”, as well as theological analysis.

Section Two  of this Application reviews medical research that shows (1) masks do not slow covid spread with any “statistical significance”, (2) masks cause serious medical and emotional problems, most tragically in children, (3) vaccines cause more deaths than covid, and (4) government blockage of proven covid cures points to some other government purpose than reducing covid.

(Section One also incorporates arguments common in other Applications for Religious Exemption: vaccines are developed from a murdered baby, and the Bible calls us to treat our bodies as the Temple of God.)

This application is secular and religious

It is secular in the sense that it seeks an exemption from worshiping a government religion which has been established in violation of the First Amendment. It uses secular arguments useful in American courts. The ACLU is regarded as secular yet initiates cases on this basis perpetually.

They are religious in the sense that these “secular” values came to American life from the Bible, are not honored in other religions uninfluenced by the Bible, and do not lose their imperitives upon the behavior of Christians by having been adopted in the “secular” world. This application is religious also in that the Bible is quoted estensively here to prove that not only is Truth a pillar of Judeo-Christianity in general, but there are examples in the Bible of Bible heroes specifically applying their reverence for Truth to resisting government mandates that are harmful to health.

Secular Features of this Application

This application is secular in the sense that this application incorporates a reverence for truth, facts, evidence, science – which are widely assumed to be entirely secular values. They are the pillars of American life, economics, science, politics, and justice.

These values are thought to be pillars of secular America, not because they are not deeply religious, but only because they are plagiarized from the Bible without honest attribution.

The ACLU, a quintessentially “secular” legal institution, explains below the four times the Supreme Court ruled that a state law favored a religion. The mandates from which I apply for an exemption are not laws, directly, but are encouraged by, if not required by, and protected by a mixture of laws, governors’ emergency rulings, rules of bureaucracies, and the “guidance” of government bodies which somehow acquire mandatory powers. The laws holding together this web of powers which, combined, acquire the force of law, merits the same courtroom scrutiny as laws whose effects are direct and honest. The web of powers they enable lays burdens upon me which can only be explained as religious, and compel me to bow down or lose (my job/education/right to travel). These “secular” legal arguments are part of the basis of my application.

Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968) said a state couldn’t outlaw the teaching of evolution; that law had no “secular purpose” but only a religious purpose. Stone v.Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980) said law couldn’t require every school to post the 10 Commandments in every school room, because the principal purpose of the law was ‘‘plainly religious.’’ Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985) ruled against a “minute of silence” during which school children might, at their option, pray. (Unfortunately, according to the ACLU article, “The statute’s principal sponsor had said that the bill’s only purpose was religious, and no evidence to the contrary had been offered by the state.” v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578 (1987) shot down a law that a teacher teaching evolution must give equal attention to “creation science”, which the Court considered “a particular religious doctrine”.

If a woman has a “fundamental right” to murder a baby growing inside her, [as Roe ruled in 1973; Hellerstedt, 2016, leaves its status unclear] I must have a fundamental right to refuse threats to my health such as masks and vaccines, whose alleged harm to others has no basis in fact, as Section Two establishes. Courts review restrictions of “fundamental rights” by a standard they call “strict scrutiny”. It says any legally enforceable restriction of my fundamental rights must have a “legitimate secular government purpose” and must achieve that purpose by “the least restrictive means possible”.

The restriction must effectively achieve its purpose. It is not enough to merely allege that the “government purpose” is legitimate, is secular, is the least restrictive means possible to achieve its purpose, and is effective. All these must be proved in court under the scrutiny of any opposing expert testimony.

This application shows that mask and vaccine mandates:

American law: Mandates Lack a "Legitimate Government Purpose"

Reducing covid would be a legitimate government purpose, and that is its stated purpose, but a number of actions deliberately taken by government that actually make covid worse rule that out as its purpose, beginning with (1) housing covid patients in nursing homes(!), (2) blocking proven early treatment protocols, not based on a fair assessment of evidence, but with a mixture of censorship and wilful ignorance, and (3) grossly inflating covid death statistics which should be legally recognizable as a concession that the true figures cannot justify its mandates. (See Section Two.) Imposition of government religion – requiring citizens to bow down to and live by government mythology, is not a legitimate government purpose in America.

Mandates Are Not Secular.

These mandates have no basis in science, facts, evidence, etc., (see Section Two), yet are imbued with moral authority greater than that enjoyed by many churches. Therefore they do not fit the “secular” category claimed for them. The only category they fit is “religious”.

Mandates Are Not the least restrictive means...

...to achieve their purpose. Proven early treatment protocols are a zero restrictive means to control covid, yet government steps in to block those remedies, not with a fair assessment of evidence, but with a mixture of censorship and willful ignorance. “Herd immunity”, which has already been achieved by pre-covid standards, should be accepted as justifying no further government or employer intervention. (See Section Two.)

Mandates Are Not Effective.

Well, not in reducing covid. They are extremely effective in furthering government-established religion. (See Section Two.)

Mandates Are not proved.

(See Section Two.)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.... - The First Amendment

Rejecting THIS religious exemption because it does not object to past vaccines is a "false analogy" fallacy

Conditioning acceptance of a religious exemption on whether it objects also to past vaccines makes as much sense as conditioning acceptance on whether it rains on the first day of next month, with respect to the religious basis that I raise, although it has makes a little sense with respect to the religious basis that vaccine development uses murdered babies.

Covid jabs can be called "vaccines" only by substantially gutting the CDC definition. Equating them is a "false analogy", whose nickname in logic is "apples and oranges". xxxx

An example of a law that conditions acceptance of a religious exemption on whether it objects also to past vaccines is New York Governor Cuomo's executive order Compl. ¶ 16; N.Y. Exec. Order 210 (June 24, 2021). It said:

Religious exemption. Covered entities shall grant a religious exemption for COVID-19 vaccination for covered personnel if they hold a genuine and sincere religious belief contrary to the practice of immunization, subject to a reasonable accommodation by the employer.

That is a reasonable objection to religious exemption applications based on vaccine development from a murdered baby. Because if that is the basis for objecting to a Covid "vaccine", that objection should apply to most past vaccines, since most of them were also developed from a murdered baby. xxxx

That is a sensible objection which millions do apply to past vaccines, although the development from murdered babies is a fact not widely known. It makes sense to not support baby murder. It also make sense to be careful about trusting doctors willing to build their services to us, on the murder of babies.

But my objection is to features of covid jabs (the new popular word for "vaccines") which are so uncommon to past vaccines that the CDC had to gut the definition of "vaccine" in order to apply the word to covid jabs. xxx

A window to how government lawyers see traditional religious exemptions is seen by a leaked audio reported 10/24/2021:

“I don’t want to say anything too categorical but I believe that this claim will be very difficult for agencies to successfully claim that’s either insincere or not religious, even if it is. Even if we know that many of those claims are not sincere, or are sincere but not religions, this is the most common behavior you’re going to confront probably, and it’s likely that you will have to take as a given the employee’s claim.

“...one response that some hospitals have started to give is, ‘well do you know that Tylenol, and Tums, and Preparation H, those were all tested using aborted fetal cell lines, too?’ And I expect that employees will then say ‘well I didn’t know that, but now that you tell me that and I’ll stop using those products as well...."

Religious Features of this Application

Exodus 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ...5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, [I tolerate no rivals]... - The First Commandment

My appeal is jointly to the First Amendment and the First Commandment. I must not bow down to any degree, in any sense, to the Mask/Vaccine idols enabled by government. My stand for Truth whatever the cost, and opposition to fraud, are deeply religious values unique to the Bible and not honored in other religions, philosophies, or political systems uninfluenced by the Bible. My “free exercise of religion” is to not only stand for Truth, but also to oppose the false religion being imposed on me and on millions of others.

The second section of this application for a religious exemption from mask wearing summarizes some of the peer-reviewed evidence that the officially alleged benefits of mask wearing to protect against covid are not “statistically significant”, while the harm of wearing masks, even for short periods, is heavily documented. The official claims are not true, and are not even sincere misunderstandings, but are deliberate fraud, supported by ruthless censorship, mandates, laws, and a few court rulings which were not based on the interaction of expert witnesses. The depth of the frenzy of support for this fraud goes beyond mere “politics” or financial interest. Its fervor is at a religious level, that of a false religion. A very dark, false religion. A religious, bitter opposition to God-given freedom.

A mask in a spiritually neutral context is spiritually harmless, just as meat or a carved tree is spiritually harmless. But when either is made an idol, or a sacrifice to idols, any unseared conscience requires clear dissassociation with it.

1 Corinthians 8:8  But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. 9  But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. 10  For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11  And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12  But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

The motivation of conscience, and of the Bible, to disassociate from idolatry not just privately but openly, is not selfish. It is not concern only for myself. It is concern for our entire nation. Hundreds of millions have placed their faith in this anti-science scam under pressure that is very mild by historical standards. Merely losing your job is a mild penalty compared with being tortured to death which has been the majority penalty of tyrants for most nations during most centuries. How many more will gladly take the Mark of the Beast prophesied in Revelation 13-16, when the alternative is being beheaded?

Real ID and E-verify, with their biometric tools, already meet every detail of the Mark of the Beast as prophesied in Revelation 13 and 14, except for the significance of “666” and the painful ulcers that everyone who accepts the “mark” will get. (Revelation 16:2.)

Republican Christian conservatives led the march towards these monstrosities in the name of driving out immigrants (which Matthew 25:43 warns is another ticket to Hell). If God’s penalty is Hell for taking the Mark to escape the terror of beheading, will there be no penalty for Christians who, under no shadow of terror, vote to fast-track Mark of the Beast technology? And now Democrats lead our nation in adding, to The Beast’s future arsenal, the capacity to cause ulcers through an unproved vaccine trusted by billions.

More Profound than Doctrines and Denominations

There are religious convictions more profound than agreement with a pastor, or the doctrines of a denomination, or if any church agrees with you, which do not even require church membership to have.

Federal law about religious exemptions may be summarized: “...religion, according to the law and policy, includes not only traditional faiths, but also faiths that are new, uncommon, or informal, or have a small number of practitioners, and some that may seem illogical or even unreasonable to others. Religious beliefs also do not have to be theistic but can be non-theistic, strongly held moral or ethical beliefs. Beliefs based on social, political, or economic philosophies, as well as mere personal preferences, are not considered religious beliefs under federal law. Venable.com

This application, while not citing denominational or church support, leans heavily on the Bible, which 71% of Americans believe is the Word of God. (55% believe it is the infallible “Word of God”.) And yet the principles heralded here are widely recognized as secular, being embedded in the foundations of American Freedom and in the very concept of Justice which is the goal of America’s courts.

Truth is such a principle. It is a principle so precious that many throughout history have given their lives for it, just to affirm it, in the face of cruel censors determined to destroy whoever dares speak it. Giving your life for a principle is made a lot more sufferable by a religious faith that there is a life after death which rewards what we do here.

Yet some philosophers ask, with Pilate, “What is truth?” John 18:18.

Truth: statements corresponding to reality.

Science was impossible before the belief that reality is testable, that nature is governed by discoverable laws. and that objective claims about them may be documented as being “true”. The Bible supports this belief. Pagan cultures, lacking it, are science-challenged.

Proverbs 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

The Bible's Emphasis on Truth as Confirmed by Evidence

Persecution Explained: Why False Religion Attacks True Religion

Ironically, the Bible never calls Christianity a "religion". Christianity is simply "the Truth". It is reality. The alternative is superstitious worship of false gods - to bow down to carved blocks of wood or stone, expecting them to make it rain for you, or make you fertile or whatever.

James 1:26-27 defines "pure religion and undefiled" not as doctrines, beliefs, church structure, rituals, sacrifices, or even faith, but as actions that benefit others: "You must...control your tongue..., help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil. (CEV)"

(The Greek word θρησκεια in Acts 26:5 means Paul strictly lived the life of a Pharisee. In Colossians 2:18 it means "the spirit of humble reverence and devotion which is evinced by the angels" according to Bible commentator Albert Barnes, who couldn't think of anyone who literally worshipped angels. The word is nowhere else in the Bible. KJV translates "Jews' religion" in Galatians 1:13-14 but the Greek word is simply "Judiasm".)

The Bible from start to finish depicts human life as a perpetual war waged by the superstitious against those who love reality, represented by the metaphor "Light".

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

It takes courage to say what your eyes tell you while everyone says your eyes aren't qualified to look.

It takes a lot of study, even when what everyone says doesn't smell right, to be sure your eyes are telling you the truth and others are telling lies.

It takes a lot of love to shout the truth in a cloud of lies, when it will be more comfortable for you to go along with the fraud, and only other people would benefit from your stand for truth.

Atheism and Covid Mandates: Measurable Mass Insanity

Why the Deluded Persecute the Sane

“Instead of facing reality, the delusional person would rather live in their world of make-believe. But in order to keep faking reality, they’ll have to make sure that everyone else around them also pretends to live in their imaginary world....It’s why the delusional person will get angry when they face someone who doesn’t conform to their world view … It’s one of the reasons why you’re seeing so many people who’d happily approve the silencing of any medical experts whose views contradict the WHO or CDC guidelines." - S.G. Cheah, Evie Magazine, December 22, 2020, discussing the emergence of mass insanity caused by “delusional fear of COVID-19.”

Mental Health Statistics Document the Covid Delusion

Mass Insanity is an accurate term for belief in a false religion by the majority of a nation's citizens. Statistics about the mental health problems accompanying covid hysteria support the appropriateness of that label.

In The Guardian, October 17, 2021: "There was a 29% increase in the number of people referred to mental health services for their first suspected episode of psychosis between April 2019 and April 2021, NHS data7 shows. The rise continued throughout the spring, with 9,460 referred in May 2021, up 26% from 7,520 in May 2019."

A Lancet study, reported in The Guardian, looking at the rates of anxiety and depression worldwide, found both conditions increased dramatically in 2020. The researchers estimate the COVID pandemic resulted in an additional 76 million cases of anxiety and 53 million cases of major depressive disorder, over and above annual norms, with women and younger individuals being disproportionally affected.

According to The Guardian: “… the team estimate there were 246m cases of major depressive disorder and 374m cases of anxiety disorders worldwide in 2020, with the figure for the former 28% higher, and for the latter 26% higher, than would have been expected had the crisis not happened. About two-thirds of these extra cases of major depressive disorder and 68% of the extra cases of anxiety disorders were among women, while younger people were affected more than older adults, with extra cases greatest among people aged 20-24.”

Adult Covid Delusion Harms Children

Children are bearing a particularly heavy burden as adults succumb to irrational fears. It’s not surprising then that mental health referrals for children have nearly doubled in the U.K. since the start of the pandemic.14 According to British authorities, 16% of children between the ages of 5 and 16 were diagnosed with a mental disorder in 2020, compared to 10.8% in 2017.15 As noted in a September 23, 2021, press release by the Royal College of Psychiatrists:

“Eighteen months after the first lockdown and after warnings from the mental health sector about the long-lasting mental health impact of the pandemic, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ analysis of NHS Digital data found that: 190,271 0–18-year-olds were referred to children and young people’s mental health services between April and June this year, up 134% on the same period last year (81,170) and 96% on 2019 (97,342).

8,552 children and young people were referred for urgent or emergency crisis care between April and June this year, up 80% on the same period last year (4,741) and up 64% on 2019 (5,219).

340,694 children in contact with children and young people’s mental health services at the end of June, up 25% on the same month last year (272,529) and up 51% on June 2019 (225,480).”

Delusional Covid Guilt Heaped on Children: Depression Up 400%

One of the worst traumas inflicted on children has been the ridiculous idea that they might kill their parents or grandparents simply by being around them. They’re also being taught to feel guilty about behaviors that would normally be completely normal — as just one example: hysterical adults calling a toddler who refuses to wear a mask a “brat,” when resisting having a restrictive mask put across your face is perfectly normal at that age.

Dr. Mark McDonald cites U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics showing there was a 400% increase in adolescent depression during 2020 compared to the year before, and in 25% of cases, they contemplated suicide. These are unheard of statistics, he says. Never before have so many teenagers considered committing suicide.

The Most Deluded: the Censors

The ruling class suffers from a different kind of psychosis. As explained in “Mass Psychosis — How an Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill,” totalitarianism actually begins as psychosis within the ruling class, as the individuals within this class are easily enamored with delusions that augment their power. And no delusion is greater than the delusion that they can, and should control and dominate others.

This article (under this subheading) borrows heavily from a review published by Dr. Joseph Mercola October 28, 2021, which he leaves online for only 48 hours to minimize threats from censors.

God calls the Willfully Self-Deluded "Fools"

The rejection of God by much of the world is genuine insanity, if the word means out of touch with reality. The Bible calls such people "fools". But the Bible warns us all to be careful about assuming we are exceptions.

Psalm 14:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 4  Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD. 

Blind Faith: Not in the Bible, but in False Religions, and Mask/Vaccine Mandates

Blind Faith in idols is mocked by God in several passages. For example, Isaiah 44:12-20, 46:1-9, Jeremiah 10:3-5.

Isaiah 44:  (CEV) 12  A metalworker shapes an idol by using a hammer and heat from the fire. In his powerful hand he holds a hammer, as he pounds the metal into the proper shape. But he gets hungry and thirsty and loses his strength. 13  Some woodcarver measures a piece of wood, then draws an outline. The idol is carefully carved with each detail exact. At last it looks like a person and is placed in a temple. 14  Either cedar, cypress, oak, or any tree from the forest may be chosen. Or even a pine tree planted by the woodcarver and watered by the rain. 15  Some of the wood is used to make a fire for heating or for cooking. One piece is made into an idol, then the woodcarver bows down and worships it. 16  He enjoys the warm fire and the meat that was roasted over the burning coals. 17  Afterwards, he bows down to worship the wooden idol. “Protect me!” he says. “You are my god.”18  Those who worship idols are stupid and blind! 19  They don't have enough sense to say to themselves, “I made a fire with half of the wood and cooked my bread and meat on it. Then I made something worthless with the other half. Why worship a block of wood?” 20  How can anyone be stupid enough to trust something that can be burned to ashes? No one can save themselves like that. Don't they realize that the idols they hold in their hands are not really gods? 

Jeremiah 10:3  For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.  4  They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5  They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. 

God contrasts how He has carried us from our birth, with how idols can’t even carry themselves and must be carried, which does nothing for their worshippers except make them tired.

Isaiah 46:1 (BBE) The Lord says, "Bel has fallen to the ground. Nebo is kneeling before me. "Men put those idols on the backs of animals. They are only heavy burdens that must be carried. They do nothing but make people tired. ...3  "Family of Jacob, listen to me! You who are left from the family of Israel, listen! I have carried you since you left your mother's womb. I carried you when you were born, 4  and I will still be carrying you when you are old. Your hair will turn gray, and I will still carry you. I made you, and I will carry you to safety. ...6  Some people are rich with gold and silver. Gold falls from their purses, and they weigh their silver on scales. They pay an artist to make a false god from wood. Then they bow down and worship that false god. 7  They put their false god on their shoulders and carry it. That false god is useless; people have to carry it! People set the statue on the ground, and it cannot move. That false god never walks away from its place. People can yell at it, but it will not answer. That false god is only a statue; it cannot save people from their troubles. 8  Sinners, change your heart and mind. Think about this again. Remember it and be strong. 9  Remember what happened long ago. [The miracles that prove my power, and what they accomplished that proves my love.] Remember, I am God and there is no other God. There is no other like me.

Bible Heroes who Resisted Health Laws Not Based on Reality, Modeling Reason

The Bible values Truth and models correction of fraud, even on the subject of physical health.

Daniel

Daniel retched at the thought of eating the disgusting meats loved and mandated by the king, which were also forbidden by God, so he proposed a medical study to prove that turning vegan was healthier than that.

Nebuchadnezzar, like Biden/Fauci today, had his own idea about what is best for the common people, and imposed his opinion by force. Daniel, like myself and millions of others, was motivated by a mix of religious objection, concern for his health, and opposition to a law out of touch with reality. (The fact that he expected his test to demonstrate better health shows he was not concerned only with violation of God’s laws, but that he presumed God’s purpose for prohibiting “unclean” meats was better health.) The “prince of the eunichs”, like businesses and hospitals today, was forced by the fear of severe penalties to serve as Health Policeman over his clients.

The medical study showed – but wait, I don’t want to give away the ending. Read it in Daniel 1.

Similarly, our government loves masks and vaccines which many renowned doctors put on a health scale somewhere near eating live monkey brains. I, like Daniel, say the matter should be decided on the basis of evidence. Will the judges of this Application be as open to evidence as the Prince of the Eunichs was?

Jesus

The Pharisees wanted Jesus to wash his hands before meals. Jesus said that was a law of men, not of God, and it is a fact that people don’t get sick from not washing their hands before meals. (Nor do American restaurants encourage that today.) Bible translations call those rules “traditions”, but commentators agree they had the force of law, violation of which was punished, as our hygiene laws today are punished.

That wasn’t the end of Jesus’ rebellion. Jesus followed that up by reasoning that the Pharisees’ habit of displacing God’s laws with their own undermines any legitimate authority they have to enact laws of their own! So after He did and said that, the Pharisees – but wait, I don’t want to give away the ending. Read it in Mark 7:1-23.

Similarly, our government displaces God’s laws with Laws from Hell: protecting baby butchery with tremendous legal, police, and financial resources, and then requiring injection of vaccines developed from a butchered baby.

Or how about "‘Trust Us To Make Health Decisions For You,’ Says Government Health Agency That Can't Define What A Woman Is"?

Daniel requested an exemption based on health. (He didn’t specify anything about violating God’s prohibition of eating unclean meats – in fact, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say Nebuchadnezzar’s meats were unclean; I only presume they were, to account for why Daniel objected.) Jesus simply refused to obey a health law which He regarded as useless and therefore as unnecessarily burdensome.

These sound like “secular” reasons, and they are reasons that should guide all humans. They are also Bible reasons.

In Daniel 3, King Neb had a stupid mandate for everyone, and threatened God’s men: “Do you think any god can save you from me?” God’s men answered, “I know God can. Whether or not He will, I feel a lot safer trusting God to save me from both you and covid, than trusting your mandate to save anyone from either one.” Or something like that.

For their rebellion, the men were thrown into a furnace made seven times hotter just for them; so hot that it killed the king’s most valiant warriors whom the king ordered to throw in God’s men. Did God save them from that?! – but wait, I don’t want to give away the ending. Read it in Daniel 3.

Mask mandates, like vaccine mandates, are obviously not for believers in the government-established religion (a mandate based on zero science yet imbued with moral as well as legal authority is religious) who religiously comply without a mandate, and happily add their own social pressure to the pressure of any mandate, but for “unbelievers”.

Similarly, in Daniel 6, the mandate to ask nothing of any man or god except the emperor Darius, did not target the millions who already believed Darius was some kind of god, but believers in God. Daniel could have avoided being thrown to the lions by simply closing his window shades so peeping toms couldn’t look in and watch him still praying to God. But...

Daniel 6:10  Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

Daniel violated the mandate. Publicly or at least semi-publicly. He was thrown to the lions. But God’s angel – but wait, I don’t want to give away the ending. Read it in Daniel 6.

Still today, the safest course, despite all who would destroy you for taking it, is to honor God. To uphold Truth insofar as we can document it. To openly, unapologetically refuse to respect lies, nonsense, and false religion. God is real. God can save, and will always make it possible for you to do His will, which will always be the most fulfilling life you could ever imagine. Trust Him.

Whether or not this Application is accepted, accept God.

The Bible models Honest, Respectful Reasoning.

Therefore our freedom is very important to God. God longs to teach us how to “write” our own “music”. God begs us to reason together.

Freedom is meaningless to the extent we are denied honest information. God doesn’t dictate what we must believe, and torture us if we refuse. God presents irrefutable evidence to us, and patiently allows us time to digest it and to choose, as we gradually grasp our choice, whether the principles of Heaven or of Hell will guide our lives – and through our votes, our government.

This is not a process of being ordered what to think, with “unity” and compliance achieved by censoring disagreement and punishing noncompliance. This is a process of reasoning, honestly and respectfully discussing evidence with others who are free to think and articulate their own understanding. Consensus is impossible to the extent your ideological opponent is blocked from explaining his premises and evidence. How can you correct errors you don’t know about? And how can you be warned of your own errors, if you do not give your opponents a chance to scrutinize you?

The Bible has no swordpoint conversions. Although natural consequences follow a life of crime and the Bible contains penalties for crimes, the Bible assigns no physical punishment for mere disbelief. Deuteronomy 13:2. The only tool of conversion is evidence and reason. Judeo/Christianity is a Religion of Reason.

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, [Hebrew: prove, as presenting evidence in court] saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Reason was Paul’s “manner”, or way of presenting the Gospel.

Acts 17:2  And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,...18:4  And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks....19  And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews....20:7  And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached [same Greek word] unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

Reason was how Jesus began His ministry at age 12.

Luke 2:46  And it came to pass, that after three days they [Jesus’ parents] found him [Jesus] in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47  And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 

It remained Jesus’ manner of presenting His Gospel, according to the manner in which God presents the Four Gospels [the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John]: out of the 146 situations in which Jesus taught, (counting the sections of red letters in Bibles which print Jesus’ words in red) only 20 – 1/7th – were not verbal interaction with others. And Jesus never censored, or discouraged, verbal interaction. (www.saltshaker.us/Salt/ Prophesying-Slides.pdf slide #15) No other religion or philosophy, except to the extent it was influenced by the Bible, even believes there is such a thing as “Truth”! Much less that it is virtuous to grasp it and articulate it even at great personal cost. Or that it is evil to censor or punish someone for stating the truth as accurately as he knows how. By contrast Jesus promises,

John 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Reason is so much the essence of Jesus,

...that John 1 calls Him The Word. God created the universe by wise speech, Genesis 1, Proverbs 8.

Reasoning all through the Bible

The Bible tells us to always be ready to reason with others in defense of what we believe, 1 Peter 3:15.

Proverbs 15:22 says that it is through "a multitude of counsellors", not  a multitude in which disapproved counsel is censored, that groups succeed. 1 Corinthians 14 describes Christian meetings as “multitudes of counsellors”; not as a place where one person gives a sermon and everyone else listens, but as a place where “all” are urged to interact with each other. (See verses 1, 5, 12, 24-25, 26, 30, 31 which call for “all” to interact; the interaction is labeled “prophesy” but v. 3 defines that as the elements of Christian conversation, and v. 26 lists six more kinds of interaction.)

The Bible models Jesus reasoning with his adversaries; not pulling rank to justify not answering, not dismissing his critics as purveyors of “misinformation” who need to be censored to protect the gullible masses rather than addressing and refuting the criticism, but actually addressing squarely every criticism, leaving his critics speechless and ashamed.

The goal of his adversaries was not to partner with Him in a search for God but to silence him. To destroy Him. They accused him of healing on the Sabbath. "Working" on the Sabbath was a capital crime, punished by stoning to death. Therefore that, along with many other charges, would have justified them executing Him had His legal defenses not been so powerful.

These principles - reverence for truth to the extent that denying it is revolting – are no longer exclusive to the Bible but have become pillars of American freedom, technology, prosperity, security, and justice. They are considered “secular”, but not because they are no longer profoundly religious, but because “secular” America has plagiarized these values, upholding them without attribution to the Bible.

The religious character of these values is clear by considering how differently truth is regarded by other religions, philosophies, and political systems. But plagiarism of these Biblical values is so entrenched in the culture of this generation that honest attribution of them to the Bible, in public – in other words, quoting the Bible in those public forums where voters decide whether to pattern our laws after the principles of Heaven or of Hell – is vilified as being “offensive”.

Without Reason, No Law

Without the Bible’s emphasis on distinguishing good from evil, there is no justice in courts. The American concept of “law” is “equal in its operation on everyone”. That is, fair, “no respecter of persons” as the Bible says in Acts 10:34 and in Deu 10:17, Deu 16:19; 2Ch 19:7; Job 34:19; Psa 82:1-2; Mat 22:16; Luk 20:21; Rom 2:11; Gal 2:6; Eph 6:9; Col 3:11, Col 3:25; Jas 2:4, Jas 2:9; 1Pe 1:17.

Genesis 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

This verse is a foundation for Equal Rights for all. There are none of Islam’s “apes and pigs” in the Bible, nor Hinduism’s “untouchables”. All humans are made in the Image of God. An important capacity God shares with us is creativity. We can study what is, imagine what could be, decide which is better, and if what could be is better, drag it into what is. What would be better, is called “good”, and what is much worse, is called “evil”. Thus creativity incorporates the capacity to distinguish between, and then choose between, good and evil.

This presents two huge problems: without God’s vision of good, many (1) can’t discern which brings true satisfaction, and (2) choose evil.

The notorious Marquis de Sade was one philosopher who agreed that without God, steered by logic alone, no argument can be made against any crime – not even murder. A leading homosexual author explains:

“Sade used sodomy [homosexuality/gay sex] as a particularly good example of what seemed to be unnatural, unreasonable and purposeless, but which could in no way be proven to be against nature or reason. Sade’s Philosophy in the Boudoir (1795) was a clear apology [moral defense] for the decriminalization of pederasty [man/boy sex] and sodomy…Sade emphasized that there were no rational arguments against any form of social behavior, be it prostitution, lust, murder, or sodomy, and he strongly opposed the suggestion that theft, prostitution, sodomy, lust, or murder were against nature…his most scrupulous biographer, Gilbert Lely, has asserted that he was a homosexual with no remorse….It was against…the church and its institutions that Sade rebelled...thus beginning a political struggle for the rights of pederasts.”  (“Sodomites, Platonic Lovers, Contrary Lovers: The Backgrounds of the Modern Homosexual” (Vol. 16, No 1. 1989) by Gert Heckma PhD, of the Gay Studies department of the University of Amsterdam.) From a Sept 19 2021 email from Scott Lively

Isaiah 5:20  (GNB) You are doomed! You call evil good and call good evil. You turn darkness into light and light into darkness. You make what is bitter sweet, and what is sweet you make bitter. 21  You are doomed! You think you are wise, so very clever. 22  You are doomed! Heroes of the wine bottle! Brave and fearless when it comes to mixing drinks! 23  But for just a bribe you let the guilty go free, and you keep the innocent from getting justice. 24  So now, just as straw and dry grass shrivel and burn in the fire, your roots will rot and your blossoms will dry up and blow away, because you have rejected what the LORD Almighty, Israel's holy God, has taught us. 

Jesus: "I am the...Truth..."

John 18:37  Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Jesus is the Word, and the Word is God, says John 1. Jesus is the brightness of God, Hebrews 1:3, who created the solar system and galaxies, v. 2, Isaiah 44:24, Proverbs 8:22-31, etc.

The premise that God exists and created man argues that the design was for man to live in harmony. What architect designs a house so that the different rooms fight and destroy each other? We should logically expect God to have created a way to exist for mankind to live in harmony and peace with one another in the way the members of our physical bodies support each other. Indeed, the Bible’s vision is of a Heaven where people don’t hurt each other. Revelation 21:27, 22:15. Yet who have great responsiblities. Luke 19:17.

But if men sprung up at random from the slime, and survive at the expense of others, then murder is good.

So the question raised by Relativism is, “who is to say hurting each other isn’t better? What makes freedom, prosperity, elections, love, peace objectively good? Who are you to say the values of pagan cultures, built on war, cannibalism, human sacrifice, torture, slavery, and dehumanization of inferior classes of people are not good, and are made better by missionaries replacing all those values with the Bible, along with ‘Western’ literacy, technology, clean water, healthy food, and prosperity?

What about Sadists who like to torture others, and Machochists who like to be tortured? What about primitives who make torture their initiation to prove that they “are a man”, of which they are very proud? What’s wrong with pride? What about people who want to kill themselves? Who are you – who is God – to call that ‘wrong’ and the Bible’s way ‘right’?”

(Relativism’s very definition is relative, there being much argument by those who profess the worldview about what it is. So apparently many relativists are as confused by it as I am. I think most relativists live like Truth-loving Christians when it comes to physical things like starting your car, texting on your phone, or the size of covid virus compared with the space between mask threads, but not values and judgments, like whether saving lives is the only legitimate reason to require masks. Ostracizing conservatives and Republicans is certainly one effect of mask and vaccine mandates, and ostracizing is conducted as if it were as immoral as pulling down your pants in the middle of the street, so a relativist might well reason that a tool for ostracizing is as important as saving lives.)

Who is God, to judge what is “right for me”? Jesus’ answer is that He came to tell us about reality. He knows how we are made: most fulfilled when we love and serve each other – when we are useful. His is The Way to real Life, the doorway to Truth, and the source of existence. For those reluctant to trust Him, He teaches with punishment as needed, which Hebrews 12 points out is what parents who love their children do. His punishment for those who hurt others and will not repent, is to suffer exactly what they have done to others, up to twice the pain they have caused others.

(Jonathan Edwards used to preach that Hell is infinite torture, but no Scripture gives a proportion of punishment suffered to harm caused of greater than twice. (“double”, Rev 18:6-8, Isa 40:2, 61:7, Jer 16:18, 17:18, Zec 9:12, or even less: “according to their works”, Pr 24:12, Mt 16:27, 2Ti 4:14. Also Gal 6:7, Job 4:8, Pro 1:31, Hos 8:7, 10:12, Rom 2:6-10, 2 Cor 9:6, Luke 6:38, and 16:25.)

That ought to be enough education to teach a relativist that not being tortured is objectively better than being tortured.

Jesus is The Life. “Life”, as presented in the Bible, like money, is something that you can have a lot of or a little of.

John 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 

The “abundant Life” available through Jesus is not mere existence, but fulfillment: it is meaning in life. Purpose. It is good. Objectively good. The Bible is testable. In court when we want to know if a witness to a murder is telling the truth, and clearly understands what he saw, we can’t directly test what he says about the murder but we test what he says about things we can double check, even if we don’t care about anything else than the murder. Similarly we can’t directly check what the Bible says about what is beyond death, but we can check the accuracy of what it says about mundane things that its authors couldn’t have known from human sources, and we can check the accuracy of dates, geography, politics, etc. by looking for contradictions from other ancient sources, even if we care nothing about that, but only about what is beyond death.

By these tests we know the Bible really was written by God, and what Jesus says is objectively true. He is “truth”.

God’s love for us, the gifts He offers us, the purpose for life, is so much the meaning of life that millions have been willing to affirm Life even when enemies of Life threaten them with physical death.

Similarly, being forced to profess falsehoods, like black is white, censorship is good, covid vaccines save more lives than they take, or masks stop covid, is so disorienting and confusing that it causes breakdown in our ability to function, even lessening our will to live. “Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!” - Leonard Ravenhill

Truth: a pillar of America.

America came into existence through thousands who, at great personal cost, left behind homelands dominated by governments who brutally prosecuted any who dared contradict their approved narrative with evidence and reasoning.

When the Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, each paragraph had abundant Biblical support (see What does the Bible say about the Declaration of Independence even though no Scripture was explicitly cited, and there were only three references to God. (It was enacted with “a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” in obedience to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and it honored God as the author of freedom: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”.) Yet the Declaration was full of facts, believed true by its signers, who “[held] these truths to be self-evident....” whose importance to them was at a level of religious conviction, calling for their signatures even though they all knew it would cause the death of several and the impoverishment of several more. Which did happen.

Thus America’s very Declaration of Independence was an application for a religious exemption from English rule. England rejected the application. But the application, then as now, was not a “pretty please” request. It was a statement of intent. Our ancestors didn’t attack England, but they defended themselves until England gave up. Similarly, thousands of doctors and nurses are quitting rather than take the covid vaccine, forcing hospitals to cut back on their services.

Truth: Distinguishing Good from Evil.

A primary meaning of “Truth” is moral reality. It should be our goal. We should seek it, and seek to correctly distinguish it from immorality. That is, we should learn to distinguish Good from Evil.

The Bible says this is not only possible, but failure to accurately label Good and Evil invites judgment:

Isaiah 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Relativism denies the existence of objective moral absolutes that are binding on all men equally. Other religions impose moral chains on some, from which others are exempt. The Bible alone holds the same standards before everyone. Far from exempting leaders, enabling them to be tyrants, the Bible scrutinizes leaders most.

Freedom Requires Honesty.

Censorship of medical evidence, to trick people into being masked and vaccinated, is an evil means to an end according to the Bible, but good according to that corner of “secular” government reasoning which has most rejected God. My objection, therefore, is religious, though also consistent with the precarious majority of “secular” reasoning which, through Biblical influence, still values honesty and evidence.

Tyranny Requires Dishonesty.

Tyrants don’t need to tell the truth. They can, indeed are expected, to torture those who dare disagree. Telling the Truth isn’t justification for disagreeing with a tyrant, in a tyrant’s court, whether the tyrant is a dictator of today or a king of the past.

When Israel tired of electing their 78,600 judges/leaders (Deuteronomy 1:13) and demanded a tyrant like all the other nations, 1 Samuel 8, (400 years before the trace of democracy when 10% of the citizens of Athens who weren’t slaves or women elected about seven of their leaders), God told Samuel “they have rejected ME, that I should not reign over them.” 1 Samuel 8:7.

God equates political involvement through voting, which enables people who love God to support righteousness in government, with choosing God to lead us. Conversely, a vote for “Big Government” to dictate how we should live is a genuflect to Satan.

Similarly when Satan reminded Jesus that he could be Dictator of the World by going along with the world’s worship of Satan, Jesus declined. God doesn’t want to be our dictator, our robot programmer, or our puppet master. He wants us to grow up, to spiritually mature, and to learn to govern ourselves with His guidance; in the same way a trumpet student trusts his teacher to show him how to play his parts, not to play all his parts for him.

Why Mandates in Denial of Reality are False Gods

As Truth, Reason, and Evidence are fundamental Bible values, so is dishonesty, deception, and manipulation fundamental to religions and philosophies beyond the influence of the Bible. They are tools of False Gods.

The Noble Lie.

Why shouldn’t Youtube and Facebook delete posts describing horrendous side effects of vaccines? Isn’t censorship good that helps trick people into doing “good” (getting vaccinated)? How about exaggeration of death rates from covid for the same reason? Why do people have to hear the Truth (all the facts – all the evidence) if that will only lead them away from doing “the right thing” which is “to have done their part for others”?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeu

said vaccine passports are “all about” rewarding certain freedoms to people who have “done the right thing” — “who have done their part for others” — and that those who “still resist” simply won't get to enjoy those same freedoms. “It seems like a very logical thing.” (The link is to a short video on Twitter of him saying that.)

Fauci

“Masks work”, Dr. Anthony Fauci told TheStreet.com. So why weren't we told to wear masks in the beginning, TheStreet asked him? “Well, the reason for that is that we were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply....”

Slate

Slate magazine looked into this issue in an article titled “The Noble Lies of COVID-19”. Do we want our leaders to lie to us, Slate asked? “Do we want public health officials to report facts and uncertainties transparently? Or do we want them to shape information to influence the public to take specific actions?”

“In March 2020, as the pandemic began, Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the president of the United States, explained in a 60 Minutes interview that he felt community use of masks was unnecessary. A few months later, he argued that his statements were not meant to imply that he felt the data to justify the use of cloth masks was insufficient. Rather, he said, had he endorsed mask wearing (of any kind), mass panic would ensue and lead to a surgical and N95 mask shortage among health care workers, who needed the masks more. Yet, emails from a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Fauci privately gave the same advice—against mask use—suggesting it was not merely his outward stance to the broader public....

“Later in 2020, Fauci participated in a second noble lie. In December, he explained in a phone interview with then–New York Times reporter Donald McNeil that he had been moving the target estimate for herd immunity based in part on emerging studies. But he also said: ‘When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent. Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, “I can nudge this up a bit,” so I went to 80, 85.’

“In his own words, he ‘nudged’ his target range for herd immunity to promote vaccine uptake....

CDC

“The fourth noble lie from government agencies and/or officials occurred...On June 4, using data from February to March, the agency made the case that hospitalizations were rising in adolescents. It tweeted, “The report shows the importance of #COVID19 vaccination for adolescents.” That tweet...raised questions about why the CDC would promote a dated statistic, when the organization had access to up-to-date information...(when) hospitalization rates in this age group had already fallen again.

“...This obvious error was compounded weeks later during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The...CDC showed a model that claimed that vaccination of young adults was preferable to the disease itself. [Five huge problems with their analysis are explained in the Slate article.]....Amplifying out-of-date statistics and building a model to support vaccination that has questionable assumptions work to support rapid deployment of two doses of mRNA to all healthy kids aged 12 to 17. That may be the CDC’s policy pursuit, and one we are sympathetic to. However, distorting evidence to achieve this result is a form of a noble lie....

“Noble lies—small untruths—yield unpredictable outcomes. Nietzsche once wrote, “Not that you lied to me, but that I no longer believe you, has shaken me.” Public health messaging is predicated on trust, which overcomes the enormous complexity of the scientific literature, creating an opportunity to communicate initiatives effectively. Still, violation of this trust renders the communication unreliable. When trust is shattered, messaging is no longer clear and straightforward, and instead results in the audience trying to reverse-engineer the statement based on their view of the speaker’s intent. Simply put, noble lies can rob confidence from the public, leading to confusion, a loss of credibility, conspiracy theories, and obfuscated policy.”

Other religions have no problem with that reasoning. But the Bible honors Truth. Honesty. Lying is justified when necessary to prevent genocide, Exodus 1:15-21. But not to trick people out of their God-given Freedom, even for an outcome called “good”. Freedom is right up there with Truth as a priority with God. To the extent people are deceived, they cannot give informed consent, and cannot be considered free.

Legal Tests

Test #1 of whether a belief is “religious”: Firm enough belief

in a principle to be willing to pay the significant cost of affirming it is one test of whether a conviction is religious. “Martyrs”, meaning “witnesses”, is the Bible’s term for those who pay the ultimate cost.

Not that a religious exemption from rules or laws should be given to everyone whose opposition rests on firm belief. We don’t give terrorists an exemption from our murder laws just because they believe Christians and Jews are apes and pigs and freedom is from Hell.

Not every religion considers Truth a treasure worth dying for.

Hinduism says we should not care whether or not we are deluded or whether anything we do will succeed: one “transcends the modes of nature” who “does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned,...who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings....” B’hagavad Gita, Chapter 14, Verse 22-25.

Islam offers little if any reasoning, evidence, or miracles in its own support. The "evidence" it relies on is heavy “dhimmi” taxes, torture, and beheadings of those who refuse lip service.

Why would anyone refuse lip service with a sword resting on one's neck? That can only be explained by reverence for truth at a religious level, preparing people to accept death if that is the cost of affirming what is true and consonant with reality, it being unthinkable – revolting – an abomination – to deny it.

Test #2: Evidence – A test of whether a religious exemption should be issued

is whether what one believes is true is true. Terrorists offer no testable evidence or reasoning that what they believe is in fact true.

Section Two of this application is full of such evidence. And its claims are not meant to be accepted as religiously non-negotiable, beyond dispute, blind faith in alleged facts, but are an invitation to the makers of the rules and/or laws from which this application seeks an exemption, to step beyond their own religiously non-negotiable, beyond dispute, blind faith in alleged facts, and engage in reasoning and examination of evidence.

Should you refuse to do so, to actually look at “the science” together with me, you will show that science isn’t the basis of your rulings. Science is an ongoing system of testing assumptions. Science does not reach conclusions that shut out, much less censor, contrary evidence. Any refusal to continue the scrutiny of old conclusions in the light of new evidence must be categorized as blind religious faith.

To allow your blind religious restriction of my freedom to stand, is to allow you to impose your religion on me. America was created as a refuge from that kind of tyranny.

It is not enough to delegate your responsibility to process evidence to a government authority which in turn censors evidence that doesn’t fit its narrative. American law welcomes public input directly to lawmakers. Bureaucratic rules welcome public input through “public comment” systems and public hearings. But Covid mandates have bypassed this system through a combination of “emergency” rulings by governors whose emergency laws generally require no public input, and bureaucratic “recommendations” which are treated by schools and employers as moral imperitives.

Test #3: benefit to others?

A third test, of whether a religious exemption should be issued, is whether issuing it would in fact harm others, or benefit others. The goal of laws is to define behavior which harms others, and then to restrict it with punishments. This requires agreement about what is harmful, by a majority of voters acting through their representatives.

Your restriction of my freedom presumes your belief that not forcing me to wear your mask would harm others: my evidence in Section Two shows that allowing me my freedom would benefit others, and that dropping your mandate for everyone else would greatly benefit others.

The fact that others believe differently doesn’t excuse us from defending what we know.

The fact that you believe differently doesn’t excuse me from defending the evidence I have.

Obviously humans don’t always agree about what is harmful. Ancient civilizations didn’t think human sacrifice was harmful. The Koran doesn’t think slaughtering “apes and pigs” (Christians and Jews) is harmful. Most of the world didn’t think slavery was harmful before 1800. American judges for the past 49 years, and Democrat party platforms today, haven’t thought murdering unborn babies has been harmful. It has been prosecuted as harmful to obstruct those barbaric institutions. The fact that many people still disagree about these things does not excuse you or me from supporting good and opposing evil.

Ezekiel 3:18  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 

The very concept of equal rights for all has been treated as harmful by most cultures in most of world history. The very definition of “law” as equal in its operation upon all is a uniquely Biblical concept, not found in Hinduism’s caste system, Islam’s eternal physical war against “disbelievers”, or Relativism’s “survival of the fittest”. Disagreement about these basics of decency does not compel us to respect the values of Hell, or to be silent about them.

A Bible and law study called “Lex Rex”, published in 1644 by Samuel Rutherford, sparked reformation of English law with this principle, but it was laid out in the Bible three millennia before. No other religious scripture, uninfluenced by the Bible, protects equal rights for all regardless of wealth, lineage, skin color, or religion. Equal rights are objectively good, and merit our study and support.

Exodus 12:49 (BBE)  The law is the same for him who is an Israelite by birth and for the man from a strange country who is living with you. (ERV)  The same rules are for everyone. It doesn't matter if they are citizens or foreigners living among you."

Romans 10:12  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. [God lives in every heart that opens to Him.]

It is commonly assumed that a difference between American democracy and Israel under Moses was that God ruled Israel, making its government a “theocracy”, while God does not rule here, making it inappropriate to quote Him in the course of shaping our government. But then and now, God leaves it to men whether to follow His principles, and how much to follow them. In Biblical history His nation chose back and forth between the principles of Heaven and Hell like a yo-yo, but God refrained from micro-managing its government. His punishments are recognizable as natural consequences of disobedience, just as we can look back on pagan history and clearly see how much human suffering was the natural consequence of their heartless, God-rejecting superstitions.

Why did God not micro-manage Israel’s government? Or ours, even though America’s Founders considered ours a Christian nation? Why does God not micro-manage the lives of every professing Christian, to keep us from sin by force? Why does God not seem willing to drag anyone into Heaven? Apparently because God considers it tyranny to impose on people more good than they will tolerate. God wants no swordpoint conversions, but love freely chosen.

This explains a legitimate function of voters, to agree on laws that define and prosecute harm, even when their laws depart from God’s and actually cause harm. Even wicked laws, therefore, are a legitimate expression of the limits to how much good the majority of voters, through their representatives, are willing to tolerate. Any application for a religious exemption from them needs to make a respectful case not only that the applicant should be exempt, but that the law or rule does not benefit anyone, although it remains the right of voters to support laws which do not benefit them.

But another religious, Biblical principle that is a check and balance against the right of majorities to limit the amount of good in their laws, is the function of Prophets, to show people how their choices are hurting them.

Ezekiel 3:18  (BBE) When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it and say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his evil way, so that he may be safe; that same evil man will come to death in his evil-doing; but I will make you responsible for his blood. 19  But if you give the evil-doer word of his danger, and he is not turned from his sin or from his evil way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing; but your life will be safe. 20  Again, when an upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, and I put a cause of falling in his way, death will overtake him: because you have given him no word of his danger, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, and there will be no memory of the upright acts which he has done; but I will make you responsible for his blood. 

1 Peter 2:13 υποταγητε Arrange your lives ουν according to παση every κτισει original formation (of authority relationships) διὰ τὸν Κύριον created by God ανθρωπινη for (the benefit of) humans....

1 Peter 2:13 calls us to do what many Bible heroes did when human authorities departed from God’s vision for them: in submission to God’s vision, to urge authorities to rise to God’s vision – not a very safe thing to do with authorities who don’t like God’s vision. But a very religious thing to do.

King James favored almost the opposite translation of the verse, that favored blind obedience to his absolute authority, and modern translations have been slow to veer from it. But the above translation is true both to the literal Greek words and to the examples left by God’s heroes and by Jesus. This explains why the Examples of Faith in Hebrews 11 did not always obey kings, but often reproved them, at great personal cost. The rest of 1 Peter reviews the other basic human relationships – husband/wife, employer/employee, pastor/Christian/, each of us/each other – similarly calling for subjection to God’s vision, even when the human with earthly authority doesn’t want to obey God.

A widespread Christian theory about the limit to which we ought to obey cruel laws, which we must do according to traditional interpretations of 1 Peter 2:13 and Romans 13:1, is that we should obey every cruel, wicked law right up to the point where we are told to do something which explicitly violates God’s laws.

But the money changers in the Temple didn’t force Jesus to disobey God, before He drove them out with a whip. Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46. David’s affair with Bathsheba didn’t force Nathan to disobey God, before he confronted David with withering judgment. 2 Samuel 12. Ezekiel 3:18-20 says when we don’t warn evil doers of the consequences, we explicitly violate the laws of God, without there being any laws enacted by tyrants involved.

Therefore, when what is believed is true, and can be proved true by the interaction of expert witnesses in court in addition to it being strongly believed, the Bible, which likewise has survived centuries of intense scrutiny to which competing religious writings are seldom if ever subjected, supports the value of affirming it.

What God Says about False Gods, and the Importance of Disclaiming Them

Examples of Government Adoration of Masks and Vaccines

Sermon of New York's Governor

Not the only example of government treatment of its covid policies in a religious manner is when the Governor of New York literally delivered a covid sermon 9/26/2021 in which she said those who resist vaccines are “not listening to God”, and she wants her “apostles” to go out and spread the message of being safe.

“Yes, I know you (in this audience) are vaccinated. You’re the smart ones. But you know there are people out there who aren’t listening to God. What God wants. You know this. You know who they are. I need you to be my apostles. I need you to go out and talk about it. Say ‘we owe this to each other. We love each other. Jesus taught us to love one another. How do you show that love? Do you care enough about each other to say ‘Please get that vaccine because I love you, I want you to live. I want our kids to be safe when they go to their schools. I want you to be safe when you go to your doctor’s office and are treated by somebody. You don’t want to get the virus from them.” Youtube

Rhode Island's Religious War against Science

Another example of government treatment of its covid policies in a manner whose only conceivable motivation is blind religious faith, is Rhode Island taking away Dr. Stephen Skoly’s medical license because he won’t take the jab. Skoly should have a medical exemption, but Rhode Island’s vaccine mandate refuses to offer one.

Skoly suffered Lyme Disease, common in Rhode Island, as a young adult “which resulted in me having some Bell’s palsy. I had an ocular injury as a young adult to one of my eyes, which I’ve had some lens replacements....some of the literature also suggests that these vaccinations and this COVID-19 vaccination could predispose patients with a history of Lyme disease and Bell’s palsy at an increased risk of developing Bell’s palsy. I recovered fine as a young adult, but I’m in my 60s now and might not recover so quickly or might not recover at all and I really don’t want any issues with my eyes.”

Also, “I actually recovered from COVID—I got COVID in December of 2020, pretty sick for a few days,...I have been following my antibodies since that time and as recently as last week have quite a high level...and the literature is suggesting, that I might have five times the antibodies that a fully vaccinated person might have.”

Not enough to satisfy Rhode Island bureaucrats! Even though Dr. Skoly has “a multitude of contracts” with “ state facilities [including] the Department of Corrections, special needs facilities, Zambarano Hospital, Eleanor Slater Hospital” besides his private practice, he is no longer allowed to help patients. “I have not even been afforded a disciplinary hearing at this point. My challenge is, can I get a hearing?”

Mike Stenhouse, of Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, joins the conversation and adds “this government in Rhode Island, the Department of Health officials, Director Nicole Alexander-Scott, and then the governor, Daniel McKee, are ignoring the real science. They’re basing mask and vaccine mandates on nonscientific data. They don’t put forth any data. They don’t even claim that there is specific research out there to back up their data.”

These mandates have no basis in science, facts, evidence, etc., (see Section Two), yet are imbued with moral authority greater than that enjoyed by many churches. Therefore they do not fit the “secular” category claimed for them. The only category they fit is “religious”.

Pfizer CEO declares that people who spread misinformation about vaccines are criminals

November 9, 2021: Politicofire.com quotes Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla while speaking with the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, on CNBC:

“There are two groups of people,” he said. “There are the people that are vaccinated; there are people that are skeptical about the vaccination. Both of them are afraid. Those that are getting the vaccine, they are afraid of the disease, and they believe, because people are not getting vaccinated, they are increasing their risk to them, they are increasing their exposure. They are mad [at] them that they don’t get the vaccine.

“Those that don’t get the vaccine, they’re afraid of the vaccine,” Bourla continued. “And they are mad [at] the people that are pressing them to get it.

“Those I understand,” he said. “They are very good people. They are decent people, but they have a fear — and I understand it. And they don’t want to take chances.

“But there is a very small part of professionals [who] circulate, on purpose, misinformation, so that they will mislead those that have concerns. Those people are criminals.”

“They’re criminals because they are literally costing millions of lives.

Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe agreed, saying they “should be treated as criminals as well.”

Bourla's company has received billions of dollars from the U.S. government alone for its vaccine.

It is often said that "you can't legislate morality", but actually you can't legislate anything but morality; every law is a view of what is right and wrong in a given situation. What is right and wrong varies by magnitudes of parsecs according to the religion of people making the judgment. Therefore Bourla's judgment that censored doctors are "criminals" is a profoundly religious position - of a religion which, quite unlike Biblical faith, refuses to reason with evidence, preferring to lock it up in jail.

My Biblical duty to Unmask False Gods

Exodus 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

I submit evidence below that mask mandates have none of the support from science alleged for them, and I declare my reverence for Truth. For facts. For evidence. For science. For reality.

I also declare that opposition to reality, to the extent it is sustained not by reasoning or evidence but by raw censorship and social ostracization, is hardly science, but is a false religion, and my opposition to mask and jab mandates is not only based on my reverence for truth and the unthinkability of denying what I know is real, but is driven also by my Biblical duty to oppose the spread of false religious devotion to outright lies  and national deception.

1 Corinthians 8:4  As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5  For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. 7  Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 8  But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. 9  But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. 10  For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11  And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?  

I declare that my opposition to mask mandates is therefore religious, and whether or not authorities respect this, courts SHOULD honor my "free exercise of religion" and should prohibit lawmakers from "establishment of religion", which is especially acute when the religion being established is false and based on suppression of evidence. And all the more so, when the consequence of the mandates is considerable loss of human lives.

Courts SHOULD protect my First Amendment “free exercise of religion”, whicb is a “fundamental right”, by not allowing any state restriction of my “fundamental rights” that does not serve a “compelling government interest”, an interest which must not be merely alleged by state authorities, but conclusively proved against the testimony of expert witnesses for the defense.

But whether courts follow the law or not, my support of Truth is a conviction that is profoundly, Biblically religious. It is a conviction I am compelled to declare, and it is an abomination to me to see Truth suppressed instead of addressed, censored instead of reasoned with, prosecuted and vilified, instead of discussed and, if possible, refuted.

Ezekiel 3:18  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19  Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20  Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 

The evidence - Continued in Section Two: Application_for_Secular/Religious_Exemption_from_Mask/Vaccine_Mandate_-_Section_Two,_The_Evidence