It’s Time for Jeff Landry to Do the Right Thing on Masks
Attorney General Jeff Landry is once again on the wrong side of the COVID 19 public health debate. Louisiana is in the midst of a fourth COVID surge, experiencing a rapid rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths enabled by the state’s low vaccination rate. In the face of this surge, which is threatening to overwhelm Louisiana hospitals, Governor John Bel Edwards reinstituted a statewide mask mandate aimed at slowing the spread of COVID. Instead of supporting even one public health measure that could prevent needless death and economic damage, Landry undermines these efforts in every way he can. His latest move aims to help individuals circumvent school mask mandates and avoid vaccination.
On Monday, Landry emailed employees of the Louisiana Department of Justice suggesting a way to obtain an exemption from school masking requirements by raising “religious” or “philosophical” objections to masking. Landry even provided form letters to give to school administrators detailing objections to both mask and vaccination mandates. These letters have since been shared by others including State Rep Danny McCormick, whose office sent them to his mailing list on Wednesday.
In his philosophical form letter, Landry bizarrely includes a citation to section 504 of the Rehabilitation act which requires schools to provide accommodations to students with disabilities. Of course, philosophical opposition to mask-wearing is not a disability. Moreover, his “philosophical” objections rely on misleading or false claims. While masking is not thought to provide fully effective protection against COVID, medical experts view masks as an important part of a general strategy for protecting oneself from infection and slowing the spread of COVID 19. Landry’s outdated claim that children are not susceptible to serious illness from the coronavirus is no longer true with the rise of the Delta variant. While Landry’s letter doesn’t make a convincing case for an objection to mask mandate in schools, what is really disturbing here is that Landry is spreading misinformation that could be deadly for Louisiana children.
If Landry’s “philosophical” objections are unconvincing, his “religious” objections to masking are absurd. Allegedly based in biblical doctrines, none of them withstand scrutiny as claims about what Christianity requires. Landry writes in the form letter, “I do not consent to forcing a face covering on my child, who is created in the image of God. Masks lead to antisocial behaviors, interfere with religious commands to share God’s love with others, and interfere with relationships in contravention of the Bible.”
Landry doesn’t explain how masks prevent people from witnessing about God’s love or interfere with relationships and that’s presumably because they don’t. Although it’s hard to know whether Landry believes these absurd claims, anyone signing the form letter would be stating that these religious objections are sincerely held. It’s tempting to draw the conclusion that Landry is asking Christians to lie - or at least not to think too hard about what they are asserting.
Landry’s letters stand in stark contrast to a letter written by Protestant theologian, Martin Luther, during a plague epidemic in 1527. Addressing whether it was morally acceptable for Christians to flee from plague, Luther calls out people who “are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague.” He points out that “God has created medicines and provided us with intelligence to guard and take good care of the body so that we can live in good health.”
But Luther had especially harsh words for those who refuse to do what is necessary to protect themselves and others. “It is even more shameful for a person to pay no heed to his own body and to fail to protect it against the plague the best he is able, and then to infect and poison others who might have remained alive if he had taken care of his body as he should have. He is thus responsible before God for his neighbor’s death and is a murderer many times over.” Unlike Landry, Luther focuses on our obligations to protect ourselves and others, offering responsible guidance on public health to Christians and all decent people. It’s time for Jeff Landry to do the right thing and help get our state on the road to conquering COVID 19.