Is this being Christian?

I have good friends and close relatives who, when I was a boy, would not have been considered truly Christian. 70 years ago, they would have been outliers. Fanatics. Not today. Today, they are becoming mainstream and they are moving the stream to the right, very far to right.

Religion permeates everything in their lives and I do mean everything. For instance, my relative told me, "As a Christian, I seek out other Christians . . . " And then continued, "CBC seems skewed to uphold a liberal perspective and criticize the conservative view." Clearly, to her, the CBC is neither conservative nor Christian.

I take umbrage at today's use of the "conservative" moniker to describe right-wing individuals who adopt extreme positions, such as opposing vaccinations. I feel this totally misrepresents conservatism as I knew it some 70 years ago. 

Back then, I would have thought a belief in the value of universal vaccinations was a very conservative stance. A conservative person would never have taken an extreme, anti-science position and argued against vaccinations for children and others. In the early '50s the fight against diphtheria was just gaining momentum. The mortality rate for diphtheria was usually from 5% to 10% but in some cases it could be much higher. And it was a frighteningly hellish death.To be an antivaxxer back then would have labelled one as an idiot and not as a Christian.

A Pew Research Center survey from 2017 noted that over 20% of white evangelicals believed parents should have the right to decide against vaccinating their children, even if it poses health risks to others. Endangering your neighbours and your children is not Christian and how such a position could be described as conservative seems just wrong.

The rise in vaccine hesitancy among conservative groups is linked to political rhetoric and misinformation, some of it generated by certain evangelicals themselves. These trouble-making liars would not have been allowed to spread their stupidity in the church I attended as a boy. My Jesus was a bright fellow. A trustworthy chap. A man you could count on. And children could have counted on him to do the right thing, he would have had any children in his care vaccinated.