Few religions are downright against the COVID vaccine
The growing number of COVID vaccine mandates from employers has prompted many to use religion as a ground for exemption from getting the vaccine. However, if you research which religions are against the vaccine, you won’t find many.
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None of the major religious denominations in the United States categorically oppose vaccination, reports CBS News. In August 2021, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church told parishioners that they “have a moral responsibility to get vaccinated.” Mormon Church leaders also encourage followers to get vaccinated and wear masks in public.
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“We can win this war if everyone follows the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders,” Mormon Church leaders said in a statement.
But requests for exemption on religious grounds don’t necessarily have to come from organized religions, says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Instead, those who oppose it may have new or unusual beliefs that may “seem illogical or unreasonable to others.”
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“It can be a personal and sincere religious belief that flows from the very nature of religious freedom set out in the First Amendment,†said labor lawyer Domenique Camacho Moran. CBS News.
Kentucky resident and anti-vaxxer Drew Kirk said The New York Times that he and his wife didn’t want the COVID-19 vaccine because they thought it was rushed, they read information linking the vaccine to abortion, and they see “similarities to the biblical mark of the beast â€, Or the Antichrist. “There are a lot of reasons we don’t want to take it, and faith is one of them,†Kirk said. The New York Times.
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Some religious leaders offer letters of exemption
Due to the vagueness of the religious exemption, independent religious leaders have recently come out of the woods, offering to write letters of support to those calling for a religious exemption from the vaccine.
The pastor of a California mega-church offers letters to anyone confirming that they are “a practicing evangelical who adheres to the religious and moral principles described in the Holy Bible.” The New York Times reports.
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A Catholic church in Charlotte, North Carolina, has offered exemption forms to its parishioners, which goes against the views of the pope and world church leaders, reports World Baptist News.
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Employers should try to determine what really constitutes an exemption on religious beliefs over social or political beliefs. In Washington State, Gov. Jay Inslee has proclaimed that those seeking a religious exemption from a mandate requiring vaccines for most state employees, health care workers and school personnel from kindergarten to kindergarten through Grade 12 students must include a statement explaining how their beliefs and practices conflict with the requirement.
A Christian legal organization takes legal action against New York officials.
On September 24, the conservative Christian legal organization Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against New York state officials on behalf of more than 1,500 New York health care workers seeking religious warrant exemptions COVID-19 vaccine. Although Governor Kathy Hochul’s vaccination mandate initially provided for limited exceptions for religious reasons, the state’s Public Health and Planning Council removed those exemptions, according to the lawsuit.
“All New York health care workers have the legal right to seek reasonable accommodation for their sincere religious beliefs, and forcing COVID injections without any religious exemption is illegal,” said Liberty Counsel founder and chairman , Mat Staver.