Church of Conscious Living
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Church of Conscious Living is an Australian anti-vaccination organisation founded in 2015 to circumvent vaccination policy for childcare and play schemes.
The organisation was established by anti-vaccinationist Stephanie Messenger[1] and promoted by the Australian Vaccination Network in order to exploit an exemption in the Australian "No Jab, No Play" policy for publicly supported childcare and play schemes. The policy only allows unvaccinated children to be enrolled in childcare if parents cite religious objections.[2]
The Church of Conscious Living is not registered as a church or charity with the Australian federal government's Charities and Not-for-profits Commission; it is instead registered as a for-profit business.[1] The Church costs $25 to join.[1]
A newsletter from the Australian Vaccination Network in December 2007 announced the creation of the church for the benefit of people who wish to refuse vaccination. It stated that "We have decided to create a 'religion', so, amongst other things, we can claim 'religious exemption', if the need ever arises, for ourselves and our children."[1]