Humans are the only animals endowed with the ability to see the horizon of possibilities in their midst. Such a viewing is only possible because of our rational nature and freedom of the will. Without both qualities, we cannot strive for the Good.
With that in mind, we must obviously care for the body as much as the soul, since one without the other is useless. BGSU has a mandate requiring vaccinations or, for the exempt, tests for the coronavirus. I am not unsympathetic to either religious or secular objections to the vaccine, knowing well that a newly developed vaccine makes some uneasy (even if ultimately such objections cannot stand up to scrutiny however, it must be noted, first, that students are already encouraged to get their shots for other things such as hepatitis, etc. (full list available on their website) and so there is nothing peculiar about the same recommendation (in this case it is a choice between the vaccine or its alternative, the testing) for the coronavirus.
BGSU’s mandate helps us achieve the Good by seeking to preserve our bodies, thereby allowing our function as moral agents to reach its full potential. As the apostle Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1st Corinthians 3:16-17).
We have a natural law and biblical defense of the mandate, therefore, any attempt to overturn the mandate runs afoul of both natural reason and God’s injunctions. The same apostle again urges us again in the same letter, “You are not your own” (1 Corin. 6:19). This puts to rest the notion of individual autonomy as an argument against the Good which we humans were created to achieve.
Bill Kennedy IV
Bowling Green
