Episode Details

What happens when the conviction of an individual Christian appears to conflict with the official position of her own church—and with the requirements of her employer?

The story of Dr. Marisol Quintanilla at Michigan State University raises that question in a particularly compelling way when one's convictions clash with employer policies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan State University required faculty, staff, and students to receive a COVID-19 vaccination or qualify for an exemption. Dr. Quintanilla, an agricultural scientist and Seventh-day Adventist, chose not to receive the vaccine and sought a religious accommodation.

Her story is not simply about a vaccine.

It is about conscience and conviction.

It is about the boundary between institutional authority and individual faith.

It is about whether a government, university, employer, or even a church should be able to determine what a person's conscience must believe.

And ultimately, it raises a question that reaches far beyond COVID:

Who has the right to govern the human conscience?

Who Is Dr. Marisol Quintanilla?

Dr. Marisol Quintanilla is an agricultural scientist specializing in plant-parasitic nematodes. She is a faculty member in Michigan State University's Department of Entomology and serves as an Extension nematologist.

Her scientific work is focused on agricultural problems that directly affect farmers and crop production. She has conducted research involving potatoes, vegetables, soil health, and sustainable approaches to managing plant-parasitic nematodes.

She earned her graduate degrees at Michigan State University and returned to MSU as an applied nematologist in 2017.

This background is important.

Quintanilla's story is not that of someone who rejected science or abandoned academic inquiry. She is herself a scientist working at a major research university.

Her dispute with MSU concerned something different:

whether the university could require her to violate what she believed was her religious conscience.

She was born in Chile into an Seventh Day Adventist family. Her grandparents became Adventists through a German immigrant that escaped Nazi Germany to Chile because of being a conscientious objector.  He did not want to join the Nazi army. Her maternal grandfather became Adventist first and converted several members of his family, including his wife, some of his siblings, and also her paternal grandparents. She was raised in a Christ centered and Bible centered home and continued her life as a practicing Seventh Day Adventist.

The COVID Mandate at Michigan State University

In 2021, Michigan State University implemented a COVID-19 vaccination requirement.

An August 20, 2021 communication to faculty and academic staff stated that vaccination was required, while providing pathways for certain exemptions.

Among those exemptions was a religious exemption for an individual with a sincerely held religious belief or religious practice that prevented vaccination.

But an exemption did not mean that an employee simply walked away from all COVID precautions.

MSU required individuals receiving approved religious or medical exemptions to participate in its testing program. The university also imposed masking and other public-health requirements.

The university policy had teeth.

Employees who did not comply could face disciplinary action, potentially including termination.

That meant the decision confronting Quintanilla was not merely theoretical.

She faced a choice:

Receive the vaccine—or ask her employer to recognize an exception based upon her religious conscience.

Quintanilla's Decision- Staying True to Conscience and Convictions

She needed a bona fide religious exemption that supported her conscienc