Christian Cop Suspended for Bragging About Defying Oregon’s Vaccination Mandate

Last week, 29-year-old Oregon state trooper Zachary Kowing posted a video saying he wasn’t going to get the COVID vaccine — despite a mandate for all government employees — because he’s a Christian, dammit, and that should be good enough for everyone.

I’m a Christian, a husband, a father, and a police officer.

I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to protect the freedom of the people who pay my salary… I do not work for my governor but for them.

…

… I have personal and religious reasons as to why I will not take the vaccine, but also the freedom to choose not to. I’ll likely get fired over this video, but I’m nonetheless exercising my First Amendment right to speak freely. I’ve fallen in line for over a year with these useless, ineffective mask mandates and I will no more…

Kowing does, in fact, fall under the governor’s purview. And in admitting his complete ignorance about how the vaccines and masks work, he was using his faith as an excuse to put people in harm’s way. By not getting vaccinated, he is a walking, talking threat to public health.

And he’s now paying a price for it:

Capt. Stephanie Bigman, a state police spokeswoman, on Friday said Kowing is under investigation for violating the agency’s social media policy, which prohibits employees from “making any statements, speeches, appearances, and endorsements, or publishing any materials, when such activities could reasonably be considered to represent the views or positions” of the agency “without authorization.”

I wish he was punished for bragging about his desire to put communities in danger instead of violating a social media policy, but whatever does the trick. If he loses his job over this, people will be safer. End of story.

All the other officers who don’t want to get vaccinated — and there are many of them — shouldn’t be in their jobs either. They’re making it clear they don’t give a damn about public safety. They’re cowards who don’t want to get a shot because they fell for some right-wing conspiracy theory, or don’t understand the science behind it, or have been brainwashed into thinking there’s some connection to abortion. Whatever the reason, it’s not good, and people are suffering because of their negligence.

At least Kowing had the decency to just show his entire ass to the public, making it that much easier to punish him. If he has this little regard for human life, let him find a new line of work when his selfishness can be rewarded.