Church of Conscious Living

The Church of Conscious Living is a "fake" or "sham" church according to the NSW Government and the media,[1] established by "anti-vaccine zealots"[2] founded by Stephanie Messenger and promoted by the Australian Vaccination Network in order to exploit religious exemptions in Australian "No Jab, No Play" policies for publicly supported childcare and play schemes.[3] Mainstream churches have denounced it as the "cult of anti-vaccine".[4]

This article is part of a series on
Alternative medicine
General information Alternative medicine Alternative veterinary medicine Quackery (Health fraud) History of alternative medicine Rise of modern medicine Pseudoscience Antiscience Skepticism Skeptical movement National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health Terminology of alternative medicine Therapeutic nihilism
Fringe medicine and science Acupressure Acupuncture Alkaline diet Anthroposophic medicine Apitherapy Applied kinesiology Aromatherapy Auriculotherapy Bates method Black salve Bodywork Bonesetter Bowen technique Breathwork Fake COVID-19 treatments Cancer treatments Charcoal cleanse Chiropractic Chiropractic treatment techniques Vertebral subluxation Christian Science Chromotherapy Colon cleansing Coffee enema Colorpuncture Colloidal silver Craniosacral therapy Crystal healing Cupping therapy Dental amalgam controversy Detoxification Foot detox Ear candling Energy medicine Esoteric energy Therapeutic touch Fabunan Antiviral Injection Facilitated communication Feldenkrais Method Functional medicine Hair analysis Herbal medicine Holistic dentistry Hologram bracelet Homeopathy Bach flower remedies Biological terrain assessment Hypnotherapy Iridology Ionized jewelry Jilly Juice Lightning Process Lymphotherapy Medical intuitive Mesmerism Magnet therapy Manual therapy Megavitamin therapy Mind–body interventions MMS Myofascial release NAET Naturopathy Oil pulling Orgone Orthomolecular medicine Orthopathy Osteomyology Osteopathy Ozone therapy Parapsychology Phrenology Psychic surgery Psychodermatology Radionics Rapid prompting method RBOP Reiki Reflexology Rolfing Scientific racism ThetaHealing Thought Field Therapy Urophagia Vaginal steaming Vision therapy Vitalism Young blood transfusion Zero balancing
Conspiracy theories (list) Big Pharma conspiracy theory HIV/AIDS denialism OPV AIDS hypothesis Anti-vaccination Vaccines and autism MMR vaccine and autism Water fluoridation controversy GMO conspiracy theories COVID-19 misinformation
Classifications Alternative medical systems Mind–body intervention Biologically-based therapy Manipulative methods Energy therapy
Traditional medicine African Muti Southern Africa Ayurveda Dosha Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health Balneotherapy Brazilian Bush medicine Cambodian Chinese Blood stasis Chinese herbology Dit Da Gua sha Gill plate trade Meridian Moxibustion Pressure point Qi San Jiao Tui na Zang-fu Chumash Curandero Faith healing Iranian Jamu Kambo Japanese Korean Mien Shiang Mongolian Prophetic medicine Shamanism Shiatsu Siddha Sri Lankan Thai massage Tibetan Unani Vietnamese
Diagnoses Adrenal fatigue Aerotoxic syndrome Candida hypersensitivity Chronic Lyme disease Electromagnetic hypersensitivity Heavy legs Leaky gut syndrome Multiple chemical sensitivity Wilson's temperature syndrome

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]

According to the Sydney Morning Herald:

An AVN newsletter in December 2007 said the church was being created to make sure people's rights to refuse vaccination are not eroded.
"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," it says, adding that it costs $25 to join.

— Anti-vaccination group encourages parents to join fake church, SMH, 28 Jan 2015

Virologist Dr David Hawkes described the group as a "devious sham",[1] and investigation by the Telegraph found that no real church in Australia had any doctrinal objection to vaccination.[2] It was denounced as "a scam" by NSW opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald.

McDonald specifically identified the Church of Conscious Living, describing "spurious religious exemptions" as being open to abuse and exploitation in the legislation as then (May 2013) proposed, saying: "Today, sadly, we have already seen an attempt by the Australian Vaccination Network—it should be called the Australian anti-vaccination network—to exploit the loophole in these new vaccination laws by encouraging their supporters to join the Church of Conscious Living and avoid the New South Wales Government's vaccination legislation".[5] Minister for Health Jillian Skinner noted that the "church" was promoted by the Australian Vaccination Network, and commented that recent changes to legislation permitted the Health Care Complaints Commission to scrutinise this activity.

Tony Abbott pledged, as federal opposition leader, to restrict religious exemptions to "clear religious reasons"[2] and as Prime Minister in April 2015 he announced that family and childcare payments worth thousands of dollars per year would be stripped from vaccine refusers unless supported by a religious exemption formally approved by the Government.[6]