re: Has anyone had a religious exemption accepted/rejected yet?

quote:

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For those that got the exemption can you share your medical or religious reasons that others might could use?

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ETA: BuzzSaw has some good stuff just above.

I submitted a request for religious exemption (since I'm a follower of Jesus - evangelical tradition), not a medical exemption (can't help you there). FTR, I'm old, almost 4 decades in engineering and work 100% remotely. I've had COVID. I intend to fight this.

My company's request has four parts:
1) Simple yes/no question about me having a "sincerely held religious belief" that keeps me from getting the COVID vaccine?"

2) Provide a statement detailing my beliefs why I object to getting the COVID vaccine. It specifically excluded politics and philosophies which I found interesting.

3) Have I had other vaccines as an adult? Yes/No.
If yes, I had to explain how my religious beliefs allowed for the previous vaccine(s) but not for the COVID vaccine.

4) Get a statement of support from my "religious leader."

My answers:
#1) Checked YES.

#2) a. I am a follower of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. I believe He is the Son of God incarnate in human flesh, lived a sinless life, died vicariously in my place by Roman crucifixion, i.e., His cross, and was raised from the dead three days later.
b. Part of my doctrinal confession is that Scripture is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.
c. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, English Standard Version).
d. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It does not belong to anyone but Jesus. He bought me by His Cross. I belong to Him. It is between Him and me what is put into the body He owns. He decides what is brought into His temple.
e. When my days are over on this earth, and I have to give an account of my life before my Lord, who's going to be there standing with me? Ans: no one. So no one else has a right to dictate my relationship with the Lord Jesus.

#3) Checked YES.
I have had numerous vaccines before – 12 in one day once. I am not an anti-vaxxer. But it is not clear why this is relevant. Not all vaccines are created equal, have been equally proven, nor do they pose equal risks, and there are proven alternative treatment protocols available for COVID, e.g., see in Uttar Pradesh in India. In light of that why are vaccines the ONLY promoted response to COVID?

Moreover, I have had COVID and work 100% from home. Vaccines pose risks. Their long term effects are not known. For the FDA to appeal to other vaccine histories when mRNA technologies are novel is bad judgment. They are NOT altogether safe and effective as advertised. Who is benefited should I incur this risk? I have no physical interaction with any other employee?

COVID vaccines were derived from tissue grown through aborted baby cell lines. It is my understanding that this is true for mRNA based vaccines and for J&J’s. To my knowledge, no one still disputes this.

Biologically, philosophically, and theologically, a life different than the mother begins at conception. In my worldview, a human life bears the image of our God our Creator and possesses inherent dignity, liberty, and sanctity. I don’t see how time somehow diminishes the moral responsibility. In other words, the fact that some of the babies aborted from whom tissue was grown happened decades ago changes what? Is it ok to murder our fellow-man to harvest his organs for the benefit of another or society at large? Or to use humans as experiments against their wills?

I am not aware that any of the vaccines I have had were derived from aborted baby cell lines. That is a critical moral difference.


#4) I am a member of _____ Church. My pastor and our Associate Pastor - would gladly draft a letter of support for me. They have both had COVID. The whole COVID shutdown has been especially taxing on evangelical pastors. I will not burden them with this request. They have enough to do and this contributes nothing to the matter at hand. It is unprecedented that an employee would have to possess a letter of support from a minister as a term of employment.

“Religion is that which binds a man. Every man is bound somewhere, somehow, to a throne, to a government, to an authority to something that is supreme, to something which he offers sacrifice, and burns incense, and bends the knee.” G. Campbell Morgan

Call it whatever. We all have it. There is no need for any employee to explain their worldview or religion or philosophy of life and have someone rubber stamp it as a condition of employment.