These were images from last weekend’s demonstration. They are screenshots from news reports of the Sydney demo – except the last which we believe is from Canberra. (Any help regarding the provenance of that one in the comments is appreciated.)

Why did the reports show more Bible signs from Sydney? – We are not sure.

But it is undeniable that there were keen Christians in Australia’s anti-lockdown demos.

What did they want?

The chief demand was an end to lockdowns, but as the “Jesus not vaccines” and similar signs suggested there was an anti-vax demand as well/

“Organisers had dubbed the protest a ‘freedom’ rally and publicised it on social media pages frequently used to spread vaccine disinformation and conspiracy theories”, the Australian reported.

The reaction

Eternity understands that a number of Christians have responded to the rallies by “dobbing in” fellow church members who attended the demonstrations, which broke health department rules. Police forces in several states have called on citizens to forward videos and images of the demos. So an early result of the demonstration has been to amplify division between Christians on this issue.

The context

The rallies took place on the same day as news of the death from COVID of Stephen Harmon, 34, spread widely. Harmon had strong anti-vax views but his church did not. This is emphasised in a statement from Burian Houston Hillsong’s Global Senior Pastor:

“The death of Stephen Harmon was a sad day for those who knew him and called him a friend. Any loss of life is a moment to mourn and offer support to those who are suffering and so our heartfelt prayers are with his family and those who loved him. As a church, our focus is on the spiritual well-being of the people in each of our local communities. On any medical issue, we strongly encourage those in our church to follow the guidance of their doctors. While many of our staff, leadership and congregation have already received the COVID-19 vaccine, we recognize this is a personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals.”

Eternity understands that Houston along with the leaders of other major Australian Churches – as reported by Eternity – is vaccinated.

The Body of Christ.

The Christians who went on the “freedom” demonstrations are united with Christ. And therefore united with all Christ-followers. Many many Christians disagree with them on obeying government public health rules in the middle of a pandemic. To the point of searching social media photos and forwarding them to the police.

Many of the protestors would most likely have been disappointed that other Christians took part in Black Lives Matter protests in an earlier lockdown.

We don’t get to choose who becomes a Christian. We will always have “unwanted solidarities” in the church. This is such a moment.

At Eternity we have reported, accurately we believe, that the vast majority of Christians support COVID vaccination and plan to get vaccinated as and when vaccines are available.

We have reported what evidence-based medicine supports – and that is that vaccines are not risk free but far less risky than COVID.

Please consider.