Employers and Courts Review Religious Exemptions to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Religion generally stays out of the workplace, but now with increasing demands for the COVID-19 vaccine, the personal faith of employees is at the forefront, as many of them through the country say they have religious reasons for not getting the vaccine.

To obtain a religious exemption, employees must provide the reasons for their request and sometimes the proof through a form signed by a church leader. Employers must then determine whether these beliefs are sincere and whether an accommodation for the unvaccinated employee would place undue hardship on others by posing a direct threat to their health and safety.

Determining sincerity can be complicated because it is so personal. There is no checklist of religions that have spoken out so completely against the vaccine because no major religion has.

Members of different faiths have different views, however, and some have raised questions in particular about vaccine mandates. The Biden administration, as part of its “Exit the Pandemic” plan, has ordered federal workers, workers at facilities that participate in Medicare or Medicaid, and employers with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated within months. to come.

These warrants are being challenged in multiple lawsuits, including one filed by a coalition of 10 states, while a number of employee vaccine warrants are being challenged in multiple circuit courts.

On November 12, a federal appeals court upheld its previous order temporarily blocking President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing mandate for big business; the justice ministry challenged the court’s blocking of the warrant.

In the meantime, religious exemption forms are piling up. A religious argument against the vaccine is that it goes against the New Testament passage which describes human bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit.

Another religious argument is a pro-life argument, citing a connection that all three US vaccines have – to varying degrees – with a cell line derived from an abortion.

Statements from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have stated that current COVID-19 vaccines are morally permitted, but stressed that Catholics are not obligated to obtain them.

Some bishops specifically advised Catholics not to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, if given a choice, claiming it was linked to an abortion-derived cell line in its development, unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, who only used these lines in the test phase. .

While Pope Francis has recommended that people get vaccinated as “an act of love,” which has been echoed by several bishops for the sake of the common good, the bishops of Colorado, South Dakota and Wisconsin have expressed their concern about the impact of a vaccination mandate on the conscience of individuals. -formed decisions.

The Christian Science Church and Jehovah’s Witnesses have said they do not oppose COVID-19 vaccinations, calling them personal decisions for each individual.

Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said there was no religious reason for members of his church not to be vaccinated and its clergy were also urged not to issue letters religious exemption.

In a statement, church leaders said people should “pay attention to the relevant medical authorities and avoid false accounts that are totally unfounded in science.”

Likewise, the three main branches of modern Judaism have issued statements in favor of COVID-19 vaccinations, as has the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America, which noted that the COVID-19 vaccine “is a matter of ‘of great importance which goes beyond the interests of individuals. to the municipalities.

But as major religious groups support the vaccine, a growing number of individuals are receiving spiritual impetus to reject the vaccine directly from federal law.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees who object to job demands because of “genuine” religious beliefs. These government-imposed challenges – on public hospital employees and military personnel – seek relief from the free exercise of the First Amendment religion.

In guidelines released at the end of October, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stipulated that when a person claims a religious exemption, their belief does not have to be recognized by an organized religion, but it cannot be recognized. based on political or social ideas.

This puts the employer in the seat of judgment in determining whether a person has a legitimate religious belief or a philosophical objection to the vaccine.

In claiming exemptions, employees are sometimes required to show letters signed by church leaders. Templates of these forms are available from the Christian legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, which said this summer it “does not endorse mandatory COVID-19 vaccination” with vaccines currently in use. in the USA.

The center’s form stated that “the Catholic Church teaches that a person may be required to refuse medical intervention, including vaccination, if their informed conscience comes to that sound judgment.”

As some Catholics took these forms to their pastors for signature, some Catholic leaders across the country urged priests not to sign them, stressing the importance of getting vaccinated.

In October, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the US Archdiocese for Military Services said, “No one should be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of their conscience. “

With rules on religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines varying across religious leaders and across state and institutions, people are turning to the courts for guidance.

In late August, a federal district court ruled in favor of the University of Massachusetts in a lawsuit brought against the school by a Catholic student for denying her a religious exemption from the vaccine requirement. An administrator told him the vaccine did not violate his faith, citing a statement by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that the vaccines were “morally justified.”

The court said the university was not under a constitutional obligation to offer a religious exemption and that the school did not enforce its religious exemption policy in a way that weighs on some religions but not on others.

The great gap between these types of cases may ultimately have to be resolved by the Supreme Court.

This fall, the court allowed a vaccination warrant for Maine healthcare workers to remain in effect, dismissing an emergency appeal from some of the workers asking for a religious exemption.

Although the sentencing order issued on Oct. 29 did not provide an explanation, the judges expressed their views in separate writings.

Judge Neil Gorsuch, in an eight-page dissent joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, said he would have accepted the state health workers’ request, noting that many other states have put in place religious exemptions for health workers.

He said the dismissal of workers and the shutdown of health care practices for failing to meet the vaccine mandate are “worthy of our attention” because those seeking a religious exemption “adhere to their constitutionally protected religious beliefs.”

He also said the state’s refusal to grant religious exemptions “borders on the irrational.”

New York and Rhode Island are the only other states with vaccination warrants for healthcare workers that do not benefit from religious exemptions, and both of these mandates are currently being challenged in lower courts.

On October 29, a federal court of appeals panel upheld New York’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, dismissing an appeal that the mandate should have a religious exemption.

The country’s high court has rejected other challenges to secure emergency aid from COVID-19 vaccine warrants, including a challenge by Indiana University students and public school employees in New York. York. These two terms included religious exemptions.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Council which represented workers in Maine, said he would file a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the healthcare workers’ plea on the merits.

“This case is far from over,” he said.

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Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim