Religious Objections to a School Mask Mandate
A question of authority over an individual's physical body
When state & local governments across the U.S. issued mask mandates in the name of stopping COVID-19, many religious leaders and institutions consented, with little serious study of relevant theological issues or questions.
As more people have “woken up” to the inefficacy of masks against respiratory viruses, I’ve noticed that much confusion remains over whether there are religious arguments to be made against persistent mandates.
For instance, Grace (@graceisforyou on Twitter) describes a Christian school in a mandate state that require adults and children to cover their faces due to the leaders’ interpretation of when to submit to governing authorities (e.g., Romans 13).


The religious objections we submitted in August 2021 to the administration of our son’s private high school, and to the board of our daughter’s public school, address the issue from a different perspective. Like Owen Strachan did so well in his podcast episode on this subject, we rooted our position not in the question, “Should we obey the government’s order to mask?” but “Biblically-speaking who has authority over an individual’s physical body?”
Even if you disagree with what we’ve said, I hope the example makes clear that lawful, reasonable religious objections to masking do exist for others, if not for you.
(FYI, the private school granted the objection; we continue to challenge the public school board.)
Religious Objection to Mandated Masking
The Illinois school code statute we referenced is here.
See also my article on masks as an aspect of dress code, under Illinois law.
That was very well thought out, thank you. As regards to some people believing mask wearing is loving their neighbour this is a deceit and should be called out. It also harms the individual wearing the mask. It promotes the lie of an infectious disease casing virus and the attendant fear. For those who follow Christ we should be free from fear.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2021/08/12/faith-masks/