Music director sues US orchestra for religious discrimination
NewsThe experienced conductor David Lockington is suing the Pasadena Symphony for religious discrimination after he was fired for refusing to accept Covid vaccination.
Lockington, 61, is a follower of Mary Baker Eddy’s Church of Christ, Scientist, which does not apparently approve of vaccination.
He has previously been music director at the Modesto Symphony, New Mexico Symphony and Grand Rapids Symphony in Michigan.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/christian-science-church-medicine-death-horror-of-my-fathers-last-days
Surely the fact he’s still alive and kicking proves him right? Good luck to him, hope he wins.
And my neighbor who refused to get vaccinated and certainly died last year from (as opposed to just with) Covid-19 was also therefore right?
Was your neighbor allowed early treatment? Have comorbidities?
Yes, and no. He was given antivirals and prone positioned before he suffocated if you really wish the gory detail.
@La Plus Belle: His/her choice.
I you believe that ” Sickness is an illusion that can be corrected by prayer alone.” then I imagine you’d be prepared to believe anything but what gives you the permission to pose a risk to others?
Huh, still stuck on that one?
Maybe you need to read the actual news and not fluff pieces,
The Vaccine did nothing to prevent the spread!
Further, your panic doesn’t necessitate me to take an untested drug into my body.
There are side effects from this drug, some deadly and Natural immunities.
While I wouldn’t stop you from taking your drug,
Don’t force it on others, wear your mask and your face shield and we’ll leave you alone, please, do likewise.
Very unclear who are the good guys and the bad guys on this matter…. not a convenient topic….
Please stick to the science.
The BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA technology was for example tested for many years as part of a cancer protection vaccine program.
Then along came Covid-19, and the founder of BioNTech thankfully redirected his research to produce a Coronavirus vaccine.
For the record, at the outset, the new vaccines helped slow down the spread. Now we have new escape variants and the vaccines mitigate against severe disease.
Jon, the vaccine assuredly reduces mortality to miniscule numbers and reduces hospitalization to similarly small numbers. No vaccine eliminates spread.
@Jon: I’ll take your 55 downvotes to my 55 downvotes…
Sheer, un-informed, ignorance which poses massive risks to the rest of the population … but your kind of right-wing ideology doesn’ t care about anyone elses’s rights or suffering …
Actually, I could even accept your reasoning if, and only if, you were the first to wear a proper mask, everytime you are in proximity of someone else.
Well, keep your unvaccinated self to yourself. I recommend you wear a huge bell around your neck to warn us sensible folk about your presence. Give us a chance to beat a safe and hasty retreat.
Agree with you about the illusion of prayer “alone”, as you carefully phrase it so as not to rule out the placebo affect.
Unfortunately, as recent studies prove, holding vaccinated status does not prevent one actually being infected or infecting others. It does, thank the good lord as it were, strongly mitigate however against a bad run with the virus, severe illness and death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_(slang)
If he won’t get vaccinated, any orchestra should require him to wear a mask whenever indoors and do a PCR test before every rehearsal and concert. These people are a threat to public health. Don’t make it easy on them.
Please see my comment above. Vaccination prevents against severe disease, not getting infected or infecting others. But we should all get vaccinated to build background population immunity. We hope this forces the virus further down the Omicron road of fitness and will prevent it branching out left and right to produce a possible Pi.
@Roger, your statement: “These people are a threat to public health” requires correction. The truth is, ALL people are a threat to public health, as everyone, vaccinated or not, is capable of becoming infected and transmitting the virus — and all viruses — to others.
If you still cling to the belief that Covid vaccines prevent infection and transmission, I urge you to look at the science.
Even the CDC admitted as far back as August of 2021 that Covid vaccines do not prevent transmission.
They have also made it quite clear that, at this point, most people are not a significant risk from Covid — with or without any or all vaccines.
If you have comorbidities that put you at risk for severity and complication with Covid, then yes, you should consider vaccination — and early treatment, and perhaps some lifestyle changes; if you are obese, you might want to work on losing weight. If you are diabetic, you want to be sure your glucose levels are under control. If you don’t exercise, you might want to start. If you eat junk food, you might want to stop.
And if you believe that the people who made different medical choices than you are out to get you, perhaps you should seek psychiatric help.
The Pasadena Symphony is a private organization, they can refuse unvaccinated conductors as they please. Also, calling him an “experienced conductor” when he’s a relative nobody on the world stage is a bold move, did he get you up to this? I wonder if he’s trying to pivot to the hard-right fundamentalists in an effort to boost career. Classic boomer move right there.
Private organisations do not have the right to discriminate on any criterion they like. For example, it is illegal for a private organisation to fire a woman for becoming pregnant. Vaccination status is a private medical matter which is none of anybody else’s business. In the UK, medical records are classified as sensitive personal data under GDPR.
He’s not in the UK, he’s in the US. Private organizations there can deny service for any reason. Stay mad.
Again, you are simply incorrect. Labor law is quite clear in the US, there are a number of reasons people can not be fired for – race, gender, age, religion etc.
His level of experience is not the point, but whether his refusal can be termed religious. I suppose the more valuable an employee is the more likely the employer is to make an effort to keep him, but this is not the point.
I’m a member of the Pasadena Symphony. You are wrong on a number of points. Lockington, though against vaccines, is hardly a right winger. And his career has been quite successful over the last 30 years. I don’t agree with his anti vaccination stance but your take on the situation is pretty uninformed.
He’s not just an experienced conductor, he’s an extremely experienced and quite talented one. I have heard him conduct Pasadena many times, and he is outstanding. Just because he isn’t known to you is totally meaningless. I’m sure there are thousands of fine musicians unknown to you. The world does not revolve around what you happen to be aware of. Assuming some tawdry motive on his part is utterly uncalled for. This is not to agree with his position, which I do not, but to defend him as a musician. He is much liked by his orchestra and audience. However, the orchestra may lose this lawsuit. The Supreme Court has favored freedom of religion arguments in these matters. This to could be devastating for the orchestra because a loss could amount to millions, which could bankrupt them. They are taking a very real risk of financial suicide here. This would be a real loss to the whole LA area. I fear for their future. I see no good outcome.
David who?
I’m generally not sympathetic to idiots who refuse to get vaccinated. But Christian Scientists do seem to me to be genuinely in another boat who should be exempted, however misguided that may be.
Some great art/music has been created as a result of what happens in a family when a Christian Scientist parent refuses medical treatment. Myles Kennedy’s “Year of the Tiger” (from 2018) is a masterpiece, a powerful song-cycle that is incredibly moving. And now I’ll say something particularly controversial: It’s as good if not better than Schubert’s Winterreise, even if from another entirely different genre (for those not familiar with him, Myles is a metal vocalist, although “Year of the Tiger” is acoustic.
To dismiss the unvaccinated as idiots will, for the intelligent mind, relagate your opinion to that of an idiot.
A friend of mine, a fit and healthy 45 year old man, had both vaccines and died of heart problems after only 10 days of receiving his booster.
I’m sorry about your friend. His heart problems may or may not have been related to the Covid shot, but most likely weren’t. Being healthy and fit in your 40s is not a guarantor against a heart attack. One of my closest friends who had been a competitive swimmer at a Division 1 school in college died of a massive heart attack at age 40 – just an hour after a swimming workout.
I on the other hand know two unvaccinated people who died of Covid: my late father’s first cousin, who had a serious co-morbidity which led to his death, and my brother’s mother-in-law. In her case, she could not get the vaccine for other health reasons. In his case, he had a serious co-morbidity which directly led to his death: an addiction to Fox News and right wing claptrap.
Why is Thailand going to nullify its contract with Phizer? This is the beginning…
Your recognition of Lockley’s sincere beliefs is appreciated. It should be noted that he always wore a mask when around others and in every way complied with public health precautions. He also advocated for orchestra members who wanted more protections instituted during performances and rehearsals. This was a conductor who cared about his orchestra and who conducted himself admirably.
Now I’m no lawyer, but conductors are usually contractors, not employees. And I would think the orchestra would have greater leeway to require a contractor meet certain terms, religious freedom or no. If he was an Orthodox Jew and refused to perform on Friday nights or a Seventh-Day Adventist and refused to perform on Saturdays, I don’t think one could make a religious discrimination claim.
Quite. For right or for wrong, the orchestra required him to be vaccinated. This has nothing to do with his religious beliefs per se. He can claim that vaccination is against his personal belief system, but he has no redress to the legal system.
Amazing! Hopefully he wins the case, Bravo!
@John: You’ve only had 54 downvotes. Where’s the missing one?
Easily the most visible press Lockington has had in years.
Dribbling nonsense. Churches have no business involving themselves in science. Science is fact based. Unlike religion.
Trust the science, eh?
@Bone: Exactly.
Ah yes, trust the church of science. And the pope, dr fauci.
Consider the massive amount of faith that people STILL have in these failed Covid vaccines. We went from “2 weeks to slow the spread” to “2 shots to make you immune” to “oops, we need to add a booster because you are no longer immune after only 6 months” to “oops, we need a different booster” to “now we gotta give you the shot yearly, but it still won’t prevent infection and transmission because ha-ha! we forgot to tell you, it never did!”
Seems to me Covid vaccination has become something of a religious belief.
The reason all those benchmarks changed were because people like you went around breaking them anyway. Dumbass.
I see many of those criticizing the vaccines on the grounds that they do not perform with absolute reliability, or use anecdotes that may be unrepresentative but feed skepticism unfairly. It should be clear to all that medicine has never been a precise or perfect science. Human physiology is not identical in everyone, not does it follow precise laws of physics. Doctors at best are dealing with matters of best probability, not certainty. It is a mistake to demonize the best-intentioned efforts they make when they sometimes fail. The fact is millions MORE would be dead without the vaccines. The effort was as successful as you can expect with the complexity of the problem. There is no foundation to question their character, motives, or integrity. They are not gods. They are also not demons.
Chasing that settlement and wasting everyone’s time and resources.
I am not pretending to be a lawyer but I have seen language on hundreds of business websites and job postings which allows someone to work without being vaccinated as long as they can prove their religious beliefs. Strange that the Pasadena Symphony does not follow this policy.
Could there possibly be another reason why they wished to dismiss Maestro Lockington and used this as a “convenient” excuse? Don’t know. Just asking.
No one should be fired or discriminated against for refusing the Covid “vaccination”. In fact, people who were should be given their jobs back and an apology. It is clear now that the vaccinations did not work as promised. Many people who got the shot still got Covid: Trump and BIden for example. But liberals can’t admit the truth even when the medical establishment presents the data clearly. The vax may moderate the effects of Covid but even the vaxed can get covid and pass it on. Masks are pretty useless, too. Go ahead; give me thumbs down. Then go to the CDC website and read the data for yourself. BTW, Lockington is a fine conductor.
I am not sure you have fully realized how the covid vaccination works and what its main effect is.
Please see e.g.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2796235
Short Summary:
Question: How do COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates compare among adults who are unvaccinated and vaccinated, and what are the risk factors for hospitalization for COVID-19 among vaccinated persons?
Findings: In this cross-sectional study of US adults hospitalized with COVID-19 during January 2022 to April 2022 (during Omicron variant predominance), COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated persons and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated persons with no booster dose, respectively, compared with those who had received a booster dose. Compared with unvaccinated hospitalized persons, vaccinated hospitalized persons were more likely to be older and have more underlying medical conditions.
Meaning: The study results suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are strongly associated with prevention of serious COVID-19 illness.
Agree that the data strongly shows that the vaccine prevents serious illness. However your quotes and summary at the end don’t at all speak to J Barcelo’s comments, which seemed to be more focused and specific to transmission.
Sure. The vaccine is not a magic wand and didn’t stop the spread. Masks are more effective to this regard I guess. But I do not think that even the doctors and the pharmaceutical companies believed, when developing it, that a vaccine would stopp the transmission. I don’t know, I am not an expert. But I strongly believe that if now, in 2023, after three years, we are more or less confident that getting the covid is not too bad, in terms of symptoms and recovery (although exceptions exist) this great result is a clear consequence of the massive vaccination campaign. And the no-vax people should thank all those who got vaccinated, which resulted in a sort of herd immunity.
And I would like to add that when the first vaccine came out, the situation was not as it is now and the risk of getting seriously ill and die was not negligible. At that time, people who refused to get vaccinated were, in my opinion, irresponsible with regards to their own health (fair enough) but also of those who, for medical reason, could not be vaccinated dven if they wanted to.
Thank you for some sane comments and exact stats. Let’s do the science guys and gals.
AD,
Read the comment from the “study.” Ask yourself why people would publish such spurious nonsense. MONEY.
That was the first paper I found on the topic. There are others from other parts of the world suggesting the same findings. Now, according to your views, everyone, in any country, who published such kind of studies is paid to counsciously and arbitraitrairly misrepresent the truth? Paid by big-Pharma?
Just most of them. With the twitter files being released, it showed cooperation between CDC, FDA, FBI, CIA, NSA, Biden Administration to illeagly censor doctors, scientists and others who tried to show opposing views. They even had back doors created on twitter for these groups to use. It’s not just twitter. Try google, facebook, microsoft and others.Since truth can stand up on its own, why the totalitarian abuse?
I am afraid you are confusing the US with the World. As I said there are similar studies from several countries. All paid by the Biden administration?
So we agree the abolition of free speech in the US is totalitarian. The WHO is actively censoring in Euroupe and the US. EU censoring tech platforms. UK 77th army brigade spied on its citizens, politicians and journalists who questioned the govt’s covid policies. You are in willful denial. I’m very sorry.
You are right on one point: the vaccinated will get infected and will infect others, but have less chance of severe illness and death.
You are quite wrong on another: FFP2 masks are exceptionally good at preventing aerosols spreading in crowded, poorly ventilated settings, as dozens of studies prove. Very rough numbers are ca. 95 per cent mitigation if all wear masks, ca. 70 mitigation if only half wear them. Please stick to the science.
And note that it’s FFP2 masks that are 95% effective, not the blue plastic things most people wear.
@JB: Good post.
Good on him.
Any conductor that hasn’t had 2 inital doses of an MRNA vaccine (aside: no, Johnson and Johnson doesn’t count – only having a single dose is an obvious cop-out and might as well be a show of support for anti-vaxxers), plus 2 boosters and a bivalent shot is being recklessly irresponsible. The industry shouldn’t tolerate conductors coming in and putting front desk string players at risk.
Again, please read my comments above. Vaccination mitigates not against getting infected but against severe disease. We should however continue to get vaccinated to build background community immunity.
The shot doesn’t stop transmission and why is their no talk of natural immunity? I had to jump through all these extra hoops to get to play this last year including testing and masking. On average, 3-4 vaxxed players in the orchestra would test positive while I never did. I’m the only one that was required to test even though asymptomatic. The other players were obviously sick, so they tested and it came back positive. Explain to me how that makes sense if the vax is suppose to stop or lessen symptoms, yet the unvaxxed (which should be sicker) are testing while asymptomatic?
Richard, on a side note, I do enjoy your music.
You were very sensible to avoid the vac which as we all know is unsafe and ineffective. Natural or acquired immunity due to a covid infection is enough. I know of numerous people who were ill after their boosters, one had clots in his leg, another felt awful after his second Pfizer then had a MI and died. No-one I know has died from COVID.
Oh my god are you the real Richard Cheese?
Richard Cheese, the Vaccine Daddy, the same guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV4mwk00dbs&t=20s
Lockington made his own personal choices regarding the COVID vaccine. Hiding behind religion isn’t right.
“Concern for public health and safety is something that all responsible people share—including Christian Scientists. Grateful as we are to live in communities where honest differences can be respected, Christian Scientists are also mindful of the obligations all citizens have to respect the rights of others in their communities.
For more than a century, our denomination has counseled respect for public health authorities and conscientious obedience to the laws of the land, including those requiring vaccination. Christian Scientists report suspected communicable disease, obey quarantines, and strive to cooperate with measures considered necessary by public health officials. We see this as a matter of basic Golden Rule ethics and New Testament love.
As for the issue of exemptions for vaccination in the law, Christian Scientists’ perspective on this issue may be unique. In the past, many public officials have been broadly supportive of exemptions when these have not been considered a danger to the wider community. In more recent years, public health concerns relating to vaccinations have risen as exemptions from them have been claimed by larger numbers. Christian Scientists recognize the seriousness of these concerns.
Most of our church members normally rely on prayer for healing. It’s a deeply considered spiritual practice and way of life that has meant a lot to us over the years. So we’ve appreciated vaccination exemptions and sought to use them conscientiously and responsibly, when they have been granted.
On the other hand, our practice isn’t a dogmatic thing. Church members are free to make their own choices on all life-decisions, in obedience to the law, including whether or not to vaccinate. These aren’t decisions imposed by their church.”
https://www.christianscience.com/press-room/a-christian-science-perspective-on-vaccination-and-public-health
“which does not apparently approve of vaccination.”
Apparently to whom? I love classical music, but I’m not very fond of Berlioz. That doesn’t make me all of a sudden a non-lover of classical music. Also I’m very fond of vaccines, infact, so fond it’s hard to express my gratutide, but the covid vaccines didn’t help me much and I wouldn’t take them again. Still, that doesn’t make me one that “does not approve of vaccination”. Now, it is possible to have two thought in your mind at the same time. I understand polarization gives more clicks, but this stupidity we have to fight.
Spot on, Serge. I had to get vaccinated for professional reasons but would have preferred not to. I have no problem with vaccines against demonstrably dangerous diseases but covid, for the overwhelming majority of the population, was a joke. Those who argue otherwise have at least one screw loose.
Tell that to the millions of people dead because of it. Or their relatives.
I love the vaccine, gives me a day off work the next day and I can sleep in.
He was not fired because of his religion, but because he was a health risk.
He does his religion no favours with this stupidity.
“The guy in the sky who died on a cross for my sins thousands of years before I was born says, through my pastor and the Good Book, that I shall not take a vaccine. He loves me. And for this, your honor, I am suing for a lot of money because the guy in the sky believes suing is good, especially when it involves punishing arts organizations.”
The orchestra should sue him for his reckless, irresponsible behavior. Love thy neighbor as thy self, Mr. Christian Scientist!
Please read my comments above.
I must start a religion that has taxes as one of the evil sins in their rules, and then sue for religious discrimination.
Anyone with me?
I’m in
I know of some countries where your new religion would be classified as terrorism.
You mean the Branch Covidian cult? (the religion of scientism) Yes, that would be terrorism.
I substituded with the Pasadena Symphony many times. David Lockington, in addition to being a conductor, is also a fine cellist and gentleman. I hope he wins his lawsuit.
Enough of this “religious discrimination'” crap! Public health and safety “trumps” religion.
Or maybe lobotomised sheep-like behaviour ‘trumps’ common sense…
If Dante were writing The Inferno today, he would add an extra circle just for unvaccinated souls, where they all would wet sneeze on each other for eternity.
Good for him, hope he wins.
The need for any vaccination has been grossly exaggerated, read what two Israeli writers have to say in Turtles All The Way Down.
A good summary is here from Ron Unz
https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-vaccines-and-the-mystery-of-polio/
The current greatest tennis player remains unvaccinated for COVID 19.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSceptics/comments/10ojn6z/_/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
The current greatest tennis player — probably the greatest, to date — is in the very prime of physical health, so that he wouldn’t benefit much, if at all, from the severity-reducing effects of the vaccine. He is hardly the example to convince the populace at large that the vaccines are unnecessary.
Refusing to be vaccinated is not a religious belief, but an attitude towards medication. Practices of some, or even many, people who belong to a particular religion does not make such practices an aspect of core belief.
Why so snide? It’s a well-established fact that Christian Science (founded in the 19th century in Boston) belief struggles with all medical interventions. But it is not a rule of the church to reject these. The law suit seems spurious.
It wasn’t religious discrimination, it was because he was being such an idiot, and he needs to understand that. Let’s hope no one ever hires him again. If only natural selection worked faster 😉
Hmmm… The Church of Christ, Scientist *encourages* prayer over medical practices but, according to this article, doesn’t require members to forego vaccines.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/christian-scientists-consider-covid-19-vaccinations
‘“It’s a common misunderstanding about our church,” said Adrienne Gilman, from Christian Science’s North Carolina Committee on Publication, in an email. “Christian Science actually does not have a theological prohibition regarding vaccination.” She linked in the email to a press statement on church views toward vaccines and public health, and said the church has “made a point to let its members know there is no pressure or judgment for whichever decision one makes.”’
Let this be the first of many lawsuits of this kind in the orchestral world. When are the orchestra managements going to release the number of positive Covid cases from among their mandated fully vaccinated membership?
Vaccination protects against severe disease and death, not against infection or infecting others.
The point is a different one: An ongoing vaccination program helps build background immunity in the world population and forces the virus to stay, we hope, on the Omicron route. With luck, it won’t gain fitness by backtracking and producing a seriously virulent new escape variant.
“Let this be the first of many lawsuits…”
Believe me. It’s coming.
Christian Science does not disapprove of vaccinations. It says that is a personal choice. Whether or not to vaccinate is not a decision imposed by the church.
https://www.christianscience.com/press-room/a-christian-science-perspective-on-vaccination-and-public-health
WOW,
I was raised from a toddler to an adult in the Christian Science Sunday school.
I feel theirs is a reckless irresponsible attitude towards medical matters – especially vaccination.
About 80 to 85 percent of illnesses are self limiting or something a normally healthy individual can totally recover from.
Christian Scientists foolishly think that when they get these diseases that their prayers were responsible for their recovery.
Then they catch something that is not self limiting and they die.
You want to be a fool and not get vaccinated fine, but if a place of business requires vaccination that is their right and if you refuse you lose your job. There is no case here for this plaintiff. Religion is between you and your God. It should never be between your God and anyone else.
The question of vaccination is a personal and private matter that is nobody else’s business, or “between you and your medical advisors”. A place of business does not have the right to impose any requirement it likes. For example, it would be completely unacceptable for an orchestra to require all of its players of Jewish heritage to wear a star of David prominently.
Refusing vaccination puts others at risk thus justifying the firing of he who refused vaccination against Covid.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, vaccination does not protect against infection but mitigates against severe disease. Vaccination programs must continue for other reasons. See my comments above please.
My grandpa didn’t want life support at the end of his life… this is similar. Covid is fake anyways. If it was real we would just invade China for the million dead, if it isn’t real then 50000 ppl were dying of the flu annually before covid and it’s a small spike in viral evolution. Our immunities adjust with the bugs. Its why all the retarded babies were born after vaccines came out in the first place… we can’t weaken ourselves too much, we need to have some toughness to resist the next outbreaks.
While I generally don’t consider there to be many valid religious objections to Covid, this would appear to be one of them.
This fellow is not objecting on the basis of conspiracy theories, such as the Covid vaccine being the Mark of the Beast.
His religion has had an apparently long-standing general objection to all vaccines. In this case, I think the exception should be granted.
It doesn’t feel safe at all for him or his players. So I guess the board must decide whether to refuse all religious exceptions or to permit long-standing ones.
Each man to his folly
As long as his folly doesn’t endanger others.
Suing to protect his religious right to infect other people … yes, that really makes sense.
Neither do I agree with Lockington’s refusal to get the vaccine nor am I a fan of his (or any other) religion.
However, having worked with David on several occasions, despite the lack of name recognition, I can say that he is a fine conductor, cellist, and a gentleman. He is a person with integrity, in a field (conducting) with almost none.
As the height of the pandemic fades into the distance, I find that my own views have softened. While I have a full vaccine card, I can understand those who have misgivings beyond the nut-job conspiracy theories.
The realities of the vaccines fell somewhat short of the promises, and these vaccines did come to market very quickly (for good reason). I think we can and should be honest about that, as well as the fact that these vaccines have likely saved millions of lives.
Good for him! I hope he wins big!
No medical procedure, no matter how common, should be forced upon anyone!!
Avigail, your comment is irrelevant. No one is “forcing” anyone to have a “medical procedure”. There are policies an employer is allowed to enforce with its employees. It is the employee’s choice to abide by the employer’s policy. In this case, the employee (or independent contractor) chose not to follow policy. There are consequences for making that choice. He has to live with the choice he was not forced to make.
I did not think time travel was possible but some comments above prove otherwise. Thanks for the trip down risk-to-others memory lane and please get checked for signs of Alzheimer’s. Such a lack of plasticity can’t be a good sign.
This post is like fly-paper for the branch covidian sect who have, somehow, managed to avoid learning what even MSM now admit – the “vaccine” (lol) does nothing to stop spread. Nothing. And may even be responsible for myocarditis and other serious health risks. Religious objections are totally reasonable on the grounds that fetal cell lines were used in its research and development.
You people are drones, and enable the very tyrants you supposedly “resist”.
Rubbish. The vaccine doesn’t stop the spread but it moderates its worst effects. But if Mr. Lockington doesn’t want to take it, that’s his right. And it’s the right of the Pasadena Symphony to opt not to do business with him.
BTW, fetal cell lines are used in the development of virtually every medication out there, including antacids and cold medicines, so if that’s your objection, you need to swear off just about everything.
https://immunizebc.ca/ask-us/questions/are-human-fetal-cells-used-make-vaccines-0
Were the “rubbish” parts of my comment the two main points that you agreed with and amplified, or was there some hidden part of my comment that only you saw?
Amen! How do we open the minds of those among us who were conned/hypnotized/brainwashed believing they are saving themselves and others by forced injections of experimental bio-weapons, masks and lockdowns?
“You can’t rationalize facts to a person whose position is based on emotion.”
But we try…
There’s no right answers here. I went to school with D/L – really nice people / family to be honest
I’m sure he’s a lovely man, but he’s wrong here.
Anybody wishing a job requiring community exposure has no right to put others at health risk due to religious beliefs. If that’s your stance, then you can’t have the job – period. And let’s see how devoted you are to your religion after you’ve had a ventilator jammed down your throat!
Think as I think. Embrace values that are mine.
Support the causes of social change. All tenets really lacking veracity.
This firing of Mr. Lockington and more examples demonstrate the lack of today’s inclusivity so fundamentally espoused and demanded by so many authoritative voices in positions where hypocrisy
is as common as the morning cup of coffee .
The same God who sent the plague also sent the vaccine…..
Glad he was fired. A self-mportant fool that is now happy to cause further damage by suing.
Good riddance to a disease vector and the rank superstition he advocates.
Even if David Lockington used his religious beliefs as a reason for not getting the pointless covid shot, he was right to resist. He’s clearly in good shape, looks after himself and is not at risk, as were 99.9% of this population profile. Those who got jabbed out of obedience, even if they really didn’t need it, are the problem.
Freedom. He is free to choose to be vaccinated or not… but not the consequences of it.
I don’t sympathize with him and will defintely, actively avoid any music he is involved with. We don’t need to promote or even tolerate that kind of ignorance.
There are a lot of interesting comments here which reflect the standing polarization of the subject. There seem to be many who are critical of someone seeking a religious exemption to a mandated injection because they are failing to follow THE SCIENCE.
The science being that vaccines promote public health, widespread distribution is necessary to fight back against diseases, and the covid shots have been presented to the public repeatedly as safe and effective, so anyone refusing them is not pulling their share, not helping society, and in fact should be denied participation in society so as to not endanger others.
I think that’s the gist of the science that propelled mandates in the orchestra profession and brought union members to approve contracts that expelled colleagues from their jobs, pay and benefits, some temporarily and some permanently.
But musicians, if anything, tend to be pretty smart people. And some – perhaps Mr Lockington – may have done a much deeper dive into the science. Some, like myself, have invested thousands of hours reading, listening and becoming intensely aware of what concerned doctors and scientists have been saying all along. It takes effort and a bit of courage. And instead of providing conclusive answers, the more one digs, the more likely they are to incur more questions. They are important questions for humanity to consider.
I would invite anyone who feels they already understand the science and stand ready to hold the unjabbed with anger and contempt, to tune in to a highly scientific discussion posted just today featuring three doctors including a pathologist who has studied cell samples of the deceased following covid infection and covid injection.
It is 78 minutes of in depth science, not all easily grasped, but it raises a number of issues and questions that deserve open debate and further study. Please take the time to listen and hear what some concerned doctors are observing. It may lead you to a path of investigation that gives you far more complete information upon which to base decisions for yourself and your family. I hope so. Your own health and that of the community is what is at stake.
https://www.youtube.com/live/sxKO2XkkoGg?feature=share
Thank you for the link. I am definitely not an expert so I won’t dive in a 70+ minute technical discussion. I am sure (or at least I really hope so) that the three doctors published their findings on a peer reviewed journal, so that the scientific community can properly look into it and discuss, in the proper forum (which is definitely not the TV/youtube) the outcomes and increase our knowledge (this is how science works). But the number these doctors should provide is the ratio of avoided fatalities vs those caused by the vaccine, if they were able. I think that the result would go overwhelmingly in one direction, I let you guess which one.
Religious belief has been used to justify slavery, honor killings, and innumerable other despicable evils. No rational decent person can take it seriously as a justification.
Strawman fallacy…
So-called “science” has been used to justify slavery, honour killings, and innumerable other despicable evils. Fanaticism in the name of “science” can be just as dangerous as fanaticism in the name of god…
January: Vaccines are 100% effective
February: Vaccine are 85% effective
March: Ok vaccines aren’t effective but will stop the spread
April: Ok vaccines don’t stop the spread until everyone takes them
May: Ok vaccines won’t stop the spread but they’ll stop you from dying
June: Ok vaccines won’t stop you from dying but anyone who doesn’t take it is a leper and should be excluded from society
Despite the medical reference in the title of Norman’s excellent summary of (primarily) “classical” music, I think the harangue over Christian Science vs. other modalities is best left to medical experts. I was raised, in part, by a Christian Science believer who wore eyeglasses and dentures; I was too young and devoted to her to question the contradiction between belief and practice.
Later in life I worked for the Sister of Mercy administrator of a Midwest hospital. She had a rapier wit and strong beliefs as her crack in front me that, “Harump! Christian Science. It’s neither Christian nor scientific.”
I wanted to keep my job so I never attempted to convince her of any of my opinions. Sister was a personification of a force of nature.
I have worked with David for many years in several orchestras. Though I don’t agree with his views on vaccines I have found him to be an excellent musician and a kind and generous human being. The negative comments here that assume him to be an anti-science right winger are about as far from reality as possible.
Why argue with an anti-vaxxer when you can just wait?