Today’s episode of Faith Made Welcome is another episode focused on the intersections and relationship between faith and science. For today’s episode, we draw the focus in quite specifically and look at public health, vaccination, religious liberty, and faith communities. 

In this episode of the podcast, Cheri, Marty, and Paul are joined by special guest Dr. Heidi Lawrence. Heidi’s research into the history and narratives associated with vaccination choice takes center stage in this episode. Join us as we look at how faith and religious liberty might shape how individuals approach vaccination. Together we ask whether vaccination is an individual choice, a community responsibility, or a complex issue that sits at the nexus between the individual and the community. We look at how common themes from our podcast, fear and doubt, surface in discussions about vaccination. And, while there’s no Bible drill in this one, Heidi does throw out an important question for us all to consider: what role does conversation about health play in a community of faith? We look forward to beginning and continuing this conversation with the members and friends of CBC and the Faith Made Welcome podcast!  

About Our Guest Heidi Lawrence

Heidi Y. Lawrence is an Associate Professor of English at George Mason University. As a medical humanist, her research focuses on language use and controversies involving medicine and science. In her book Vaccine Rhetorics (Ohio State University Press, 2020), she uses qualitative methods to study the beliefs and arguments that different groups (including physicians, parents, and young adults) use to describe their positions both for and against vaccination. Her other work studies problems of importance to public health (including sexual assault) to provide better understanding of how arguments work to constrain as well as open up new possibilities for policy response.

Scripture Mentioned this Episode

Today’s episode features a lot of indirect references to scripture. Here’s where you can look to read further on the Biblical references we make:

• Mark 10: 17-31 - We return to the Rich Man story discussed in Episode 3.

Additional Materials Mentioned this Episode

We’ve elected to list these references in the order they appear:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Cheri references Mutagen Ooze as being the substance she thinks of when she sees vaccines portrayed with glowing liquid.  

• • H. P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator - Following Cheri’s TMNT reference, Paul describes promotional materials for this film that portrayed Dr. Herbert West wielding a glowing green syringe 

• HBO’s John Adams - Paul references this show as an account of early inoculation practices.

• Edward Jenner - Both Paul and Heidi make reference Jenner and the development of the smallpox vaccine

• Tuskegee Experiment - Heidi references this case, as did Graham Walker in Episode 6, as a reminder of instances wherein the public learned that government agencies were not being truthful in matters of health treatment

• Pandemrix Issues in Sweden - Heidi discusses issues regarding the H1N1 vaccine in Sweden that caused narcolepsy in patients with specific genetic markers.

About This Podcast

This podcast was envisioned as means to foster spiritual growth and conversations about faith, both within and beyond the faith community at Commonwealth Baptist Church. At the open of this episode, we discuss what spiritual formation means to our CBC pastors and the role community plays in our concept of faith. 

Got a question or want to reach out to the Faith Made Welcome team?  You can reach us at [email protected].

Faith Made Welcome is produced by Cheri Spiegel, Paul Fitzgerald and This Most Unbelievable Life.