As more states and businesses enact COVID-19 vaccine mandates, remarks about “needle Nazis” have proliferated—especially among conservative politicians and far-right pastors.
Earlier this fall, Wendell Griffen, pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, called the conduct of those politicians and religious leaders “beyond hypocritical.” During a webinar, he said, “They oppose vaccination mandates and foment defiance because it is in their power. … It is self-righteous, self-serving, and self-worship. Simply put, it is diabolical.”
Opposition to mask-wearing and vaccines is “what happens when people disobey ‘love thy neighbor,’” said Griffen, who’s also an Arkansas judge. Christians who rush to protect the unborn yet fight vaccine rules also “are hypocrites,” he said. When asked about religious exemptions to mandates, Griffen replied, “I have a right to have a faith, but I do not have a right to sicken my neighbor.”
