• Contact
  • Return to IBSA
  • Advertise Through Us

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • QuickLinks
    • E-Reader
    • Baptist Press
    • Resource Magazine
  • News
    • Corona Virus
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Religious Liberty
  • Mission
    • Illinois Churches
    • Church Planting
    • Missions
    • Evangelism
  • In Focus
    • Longform Articles
  • Columns
    • Nate Adams
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
  • Leaders
    • Pat’s Playbook
    • Fresh Ideas
    • iLead
    • Devotional

Vaccines, religious liberty wins mark end of pandemic year

December 21, 2020 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Survey results released in late 2020 were a bright spot for churchgoers in an otherwise dim year. Gallup found frequent church attenders were the only group who reported gains in mental health during the year, even as most churches shut down temporarily to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Gallup’s annual health survey found 34% of Americans classify their mental health as “excellent,” which is an all-time low. But 46% of Americans who attend religious services weekly said their mental health is excellent, up from 42% last year.

As many states continued to grapple with spikes in COVID cases, the national conversation shifted to the first vaccines administered in early December. Some public health officials have reached out to faith leaders in an effort to encourage churchgoers to get vaccinated when immunizations become available.

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, joined Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore for a Dec. 3 webinar about the vaccines. “I want to assure you as a scientist, as a physician, as a researcher who has been in the middle of all of this since January, we have done nothing to compromise in even the smallest way the safety or the efficacy standards for these vaccines,” he said.

The atheist turned Christian spoke specifically to fellow believers in Christ. “Here’s a great opportunity for Christians to say, ‘Let’s really look at the truth of the situation and evaluate what the evidence demonstrates for and against the idea that this is something I want to take advantage of myself.’”

Churches notch court victories
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said Dec. 15 that the state of Nevada’s pandemic-related restrictions treat secular events and businesses “significantly better” than worship services. The judges granted a preliminary injunction against attendance limits that are stricter for houses of worship than for other entities, including casinos.

“This is a significant win,” said David Cortman of Alliance Defending Freedom, who is representing Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in their challenge of Nevada’s restrictions. “There is no constitutional right to gamble, but there is one that protects attending worship services. The government has a duty to respect the First Amendment, so it can’t single out churches for harsher treatment than secular activities.”

The Nevada ruling was the most recent in a string of religious liberty victories for churches challenging restrictions on worship gatherings. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily barred New York from enacting certain restrictions on churches and synagogues in areas identified as COVID hotspots. In light of their ruling, the justices ordered lower courts to reconsider rulings in California, Colorado, and New Jersey concerning worship restrictions.

Share This Story

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+

Coronavirus

  • News
  • Church Helps

Sexual Abuse Prevention & Ministry

Resources

  • Protect your children, protect your church
  • Caring Well
  • Related Stories

Tuesday Briefing

Briefing

March for Life goes online

Featured Columns

Praying to satisfy a deeper hunger

Doug Munton

Editor’s note: Pastor Doug Munton posted this column on his website just as the first COVID-19 restrictions were implemented. Now, many months later, it seems an even more vital word as we contemplate life after the pandemic. Personal revival is a challenge in isolation; now our churches—and we ourselves—need a fresh wind of the Spirit […]

‘Sanctity’ beyond the unborn

Eric Reed

Ahead of each January issue, our editorial team asks, “How will we report on ‘sanctity’ this year?” The Sunday before the anniversary of the 1973 decision legalizing abortion in the United States is observed as Sanctity of Human Life on the SBC calendar. This year it falls on January 17. For many Southern Baptists, that […]

Start fresh with family worship

John Yi

Before my wife, Gloria, and I even married, we vowed to establish a rock-solid family tradition of daily devotions together. But after almost 25 years of marriage and building a family, we could count on a single hand the longest streak of consecutive days when every member had come together for family worship or devotions […]

More Columns

2021 Forecast: Start the new year by rebuilding discipleship patterns

Illinois Baptist Staff

Editor’s note: For the January 1 issue of the Illinois Baptist, pastors and leaders from IBSA shared their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing the church in 2021. You’ll see them here every Wednesday this month. Scott Foshie, IBSA director of revitalization In 1920, Arthur Flake came to the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board […]

News

AL pastor to be nominated for SBC president

Illinois Baptist Staff

Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala., is the third announced candidate for SBC president. Former SBC president Fred Luter announced his intention to nominate Litton at the denomination’s annual meeting in June. “With Ed’s commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, he is what our convention needs to help us […]

Baptists and a new, ‘blue’ White House

Anne Graham Lotz to speak at Priority Women’s Conference

More News Stories

Mission

2021 Forecast: Hope for the year ahead

Illinois Baptist Staff

Editor’s note: For the January 1 issue of the Illinois Baptist, pastors and leaders from IBSA shared their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing the church in 2021. You’ll see them here every Wednesday this month. Rayden Hollis, pastor, Red Hill Church, Edwardsville A recent “Thanksgiving Song” by musician Ben Rector sums up 2020 […]

Food giveaways launch holiday season for Illinois Disaster Relief

Teens celebrate AWSOM in an unusual year

More Mission Stories

  • Blog
  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns
  • Leaders

Copyright © 2021 · Website by Megaphone Designs