“It’s Like 1998 Again”: Why Parents Still Refuse and Delay Vaccines

We conducted a qualitative study from 2018 to 2019 to update the reasons why US parents’ refuse or delay vaccines. Four focus groups and 4 semi-structured interviews involving 33 primary care pediatric providers were conducted in Washington and Colorado. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes related to reasons for parental refusal or delay. Five predominant themes were identified: (1) vaccine safety, (2) relative influence of information sources, decision-makers, and timing, (3) low perceived risk of contracting vaccine-preventable disease, (4) lack of trust, and (5) religious objection. Vaccine safety was the theme mentioned most frequently by providers (N = 45 times by 26 providers) and religious objection to vaccination was referred to the least (N = 6 times by 6 providers). Provider-reported reasons for parental refusal or delay of childhood vaccines in 2018 to 2019 remain similar to those reported in previous studies.

Banks

This chapter discusses the history of banks as one of three progenitors of money, the others being mints and treasury secretaries or finance ministers. Banking had a substantial presence in Roman times, then declined during the Middle Ages as trade became more hazardous and lending came into conflict with the religious objection to usury. The Renaissance saw the revival of money due in part to trade. It is fair to say that the decline and revival of banking took place in Italy. The banking houses of Venice and Genoa are acknowledged as the precursors of modern commercial banks. The chapter also considers how banking that developed from the seventeenth century spawned cycles of euphoria and panics. Finally, it examines the case of John Law, who established a bank in France that was authorized to issue notes in the form of loans, with the state as the principal borrower.

Climacus and the Arguments for God’s Existence

This article offers an evaluation of Climacus’ objections to the arguments for the existence of God. With one exception (the critique of the ontological argument, which seems to anticipate the contemporary logico-empiricist position), these objections are found wanting. In the first general objection, Climacus seems to jump illegitimately from the objective reality of God’s existence (or non-existence) to the subjective conviction about God’s existence (or nonexistence). In the second, one might find exceptions to Climacus’ assertion that one can never deduce the existence of persons from the facts of the palpable world. Next, the objection against the teleological argument is inconclusive, since, in my opinion, Climacus does not offer a clear structure to-or critique of-this argument. Lastly, the ethico-religious objection fails because God’s existence- even if one would accept the reality of a sensus divinitatis-is not yet transparently evident to us. Nonetheless, in Climacus’ treatment of all these objections we observe similarities with certain ideas of contemporary reformed epistemology: a skepticism with regard to natural theology, a belief in a sensus divinitatis, and a positive assessment of the role of faith as an epistemological presupposition.

Isaac Newton on Prophecies and Idolatry

On February 9, 1674/5, Isaac Newton left Cambridge for London, remaining there some five weeks. His main purpose was procuring a Royal dispensation from the statutory requirement of Trinity College that senior fellows take holy orders within seven years of election or forfeit the fellowship. As Newton had been elected senior fellow on March 16, 1668, the matter of ordination had become rather urgent. Newton’s eagerness to obtain a dispensation from ordination is significant, for it has prompted scholars to impute religious motivation to the action. It has been argued that by 1673, at the latest, Newton had become a heretic and that his concentrated effort to evade ordination was spurred by his newly found anti-Trinitarianism. However, this chapter shows that Newton’s initial forays into heresy commenced only in the late 1670s, gaining intensity in subsequent decades. His course of action with respect to the ordination was motivated, not by religious objection per se, but by a strong sense of propriety shared widely by contemporaries who found themselves deep into secular pursuits and painfully aware of the resulting incompatibility with a calling to the ministry.

Awareness of Organ Transplantation among Health Care Professionals and Medical Students

This cross sectional study was conducted in different medical college hospitals of Dhaka city during the months of Jan-March 2009. The objective of this study was to find out the awareness level on organ transplantation amongst the teachers, doctors and nurses working in these medical college hospitals and 1st to 5th year students. A structured questionnaire was given to the respondents. The total number of respondents was 462 of which 103 (22.3%) were doctors, 268 (58%) were medical students and 91 (19.7%) were nurses. Among the study group 31.4% knew that there was an organ transplantation law in Bangladesh and 16.5% said that there was no such law whereas 52.2% had no idea whatsoever about the law. Of the respondents 33.8% were willing to donate their organs after death, 41.6% did not want to donate and 24.2% were not sure. This study revealed that there was a lack of understanding regarding the religious views on organ transplantation. Only 37.1% of respondents thought that were was no religious objection to organ transplantation whereas 27.1% felt that there was religious objection while 35.7% were not sure. The study shows that there is significant lack of awareness regarding organ transplantation issues among the health care professionals and medical students in Bangladesh. The dictates of religion on this matter were also not clear to most of the respondents. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2009; 3(2): 55-58 Keywords: Organ transplantation, awareness, healthcare professionals, religious sanctions. DOI: 10.3329/imcj.v3i2.4217