Fired After Getting Vaccinated—And Encouraging Others to Do So

Dan Darling was the consummate evangelical insider, until he wasn’t. Over the years, he has run the communications shop for several big-name Christian organizations, most recently the National Religious Broadcasters, or NRB, an association of more than 1,000 Christian radio hosts, television producers, and other media professionals. But at the end of August, he was fired. In an opinion piece for USA Today and later on Morning Joe, Darling shared why he had chosen to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and argued that vaccination reflects the Christian value of loving one’s neighbor. Darling’s statements violated guidance from the NRB’s CEO, Troy Miller, instructing staff to “stay neutral,” Miller wrote on social media. By going on national television to speak positively about the vaccines, Darling had shown “willful insubordination,” his termination letter said, according to Religion News Service.

[Read: The vortex of white evangelicalism]

From the outside, this HR drama is a little puzzling. Darling, who is also a pastor, frequently was relatively mild: He