A second, detailed primer on drafting Religious Accommodation requests, including a complete sample letter from me, and answers to the new, improved government-standard ones that are popping up now.
Jeff: I am deeply moved by your response. I am inspired by your love for God and the depth of your convictions. Your rich, powerful writing glows with them. You continue to demonstrate an intelligence, commitment and passion which make you a precious gift from God to me. Thank you for your inspiration as a role model and for your enormous contribution to freedom in what is becoming a darker world. I feel satisfaction for the financial support I have pledged to your effort. There aren’t many things that provide such great ROI. :)
Those questions that are being used in an attempt to derail people’s religious objections are foul and intrusive! As if they had the right approve or disapprove a person’s personal convictions. What more will these people stoop to?
I would love to see a topic on the next steps, denied Religious Exemptions and how to legally proceed. As I am in this phase. I sent a request asking the reasons for my denial and for an appeals process. The written response back was that the reasons would not be made public and there is no appeals process. They are trying to use the terminology of “separation “ instead of firing. I will not sign anything. But what are our next steps? Seems like if you work in healthcare, airline, federal, have a union or military, these people are getting help. Private employers seem to be steamrolling over us. What do we do?
This is an outstanding read. I have already submitted my religious exemption request and am now awaiting The Verdict, but I was pleased to see that I had taken a similar approach in mine, which I had an attorney review prior to submission. I fully intend to file a religious discrimination suit against my employer should they deny my accommodation request.
Should you also add into the statement what accommodations you are seeking? My job is full time telework, and I am only seeking the opportunity to continue to work as I have been, from home. There is absolutely no way that they can show that keeping me at home working with zero contact with the public or coworkers is an undue burden.
I did, for the same exact reason. I've been working remotely since BEFORE the pandemic. Therefore, there is no possible way that my continuation of the status quo could ever be regarded by my employer as an "undue hardship" to their operations. I'm sure your accommodation will be accepted. I fully expect that mine will be, too. My faith in the Lord is strong, and I know he will lead me where I need to be--maybe even into a lawsuit with a large enough settlement that I can retire!
If your employer is a federal contractor - back before they turned evil and were trying to persuade people to get vaccinated they sent an email that said you get paid two days off or however long it takes to recover from vaccine side effects. In my state an advertisement trying to convince people to get vaccinated had a young person saying the protection offers was worth the few days being sick from the shot. You may be avoiding an "undue hardship" to their operations. Isn't up to the employer whether they accept the exemption requests? For small employers that know you, I would hope it would be automatic but there may be some pressure on federal contractors not to accept the requests, which again is discrimination.
I based my letter on this solid one from the Michigan GOP 13th district. Good stuff. Make sure you correct the typos and personalize, personalize, personalize.
I generally don’t take vaccines, but I did have childhood vaccines and took the flu vaccine once or twice in my early 20’s. I don’t think I’ve had any vaccines since I was saved, but to be honest, it was the Covid research that I described in my letter (see Question No. 1) that alerted me to the use of aborted baby tissue in development of many vaccines. I won’t be taking any vaccines in that category, nor will my children.
Nor will I accept ANY medical treatment of ANY kind if I have a firm conviction after prayer and reflection that I should not do so.
Sorry, I was on mobile and didn't realize you were replying to my comment with the MIGOP letter. My suggestion is that's why you use multiple resources when preparing your own letter. For mine, I said something like this: "I am strongly convicted to not allow any of the COVID-19 vaccines into my body—as it is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God. For the same reasons, I never receive a seasonal flu vaccine. And this year, I have become aware of specific ingredients in certain vaccines that have caused me serious distress—including animal-derived products, often contained in vaccines. Now that I know this, I am even more firm in my objections, and after much prayerful consideration, I know now more than ever that I would not receive any vaccines moving forward."
It's hardly your fault if you were administered vaxxes as a child, and you are allowed to change your position as an adult at any time.
good advice, thank you. The Questions are probably coming from the Safer Federal Worker Task Force, which posted some "sample" questions on October 4th. Lazy agencies will just copy and paste.
Thanks Jeff. This is very helpful and timely. I will review this and the linked articles many times before drafting my exemption.
I posted this question in the other article - how would you suggest someone go about doing the exemption on moral grounds, rather than religious? I was raised Christian but have not been practicing for many years now and will not succeed if I go that route. I liked what you wrote about the "Title VII’s protections also extend nonreligious beliefs if they are related to morality, ultimate ideas about life, purpose, and death. ".
I might say that this whole COVID thing is bringing you to faith! For me, I call it The Great COVID Awakening. Don't be ashamed of that; praise God that this whole horrible mess has been used to open the spiritual eyes of millions of people! :-)
My feeling on this is regardless of the fetal cell use or not, the MRNA vaccine is in fact software that programs the cell to perform a function it was not designed to do. God has his own programming language in rna and dna. Everything God created was done with His word. This gene therapy changes the Word of God and is blasphemous. It goes against God’s creation from the Beginning!
I have friends and family facing this. One particular is a NICU nurse at Bronson Hospital in Michigan. They are not accepting any exemptions whatsoever. They will lose close to 400 employees I’m told come Dec 1.
Is there any recourse for those employees? Not asking for legal advice. Just direction, if there can be a pending law suit for the hospital totally disregarding religious liberties in this way?
Why do we have to write a lengthy Thesis to "prove" our deeply held beliefs ? This in of itself is Orwellian and UN Constitutional. Some board of technocrats rules on your contributions to society or if and when and how you practice or practices your faith ! What's next if this autocratic tyranny is allowed to continue ? I for one will not beg nor plead for an exemption. And how long will King presidents send men off to 'police actions' force shots, tell us what our opinions are going to be and so on with a fiat mandate !!!? Without a vote of congress and a supreme court examination that urinates on the Constitution in many cases !!?
Thank you so much for this. This fellow Southern Baptist, sister in Christ — and nurse with 28 years experience — is so grateful for everything that you share and do.
I submitted a religious exemption and it was broad about moral beliefs. They came back with questions surrounding fetal stem cell when that was only mentioned in one detail of my religious exemption and they excluded asking for clarification on anything else. Why do you think they wanted to gear it towards the fetal stem cell reason? Should I restate many times in my responses to follow up questions that my refusal is not just based on fetal stem cells?
Thank you for sharing this! I appreciate all the comments as well. I have submitted a religious accommodation and my company responded by telling me to fill out a Body Temple Attestation form AND Natural Immune System Attestation form.
Both forms ask if my child(ren) have received specific vaccines (of course asked about my vaccines as well). I understand they are trying to obtain as much information as possible to show the way I live contradicts my request for accommodation (based on “glorifying God in my body” and “God-given immunity”), but are they allowed to ask for my child’s vaccination status? Does this violate HIPPA? My husband doesn’t want that information shared with my company as he is also my son’s legal guardian, not just me.
It was threatened in the forms that I must answer all questions or my request for accommodation will be denied.
They also ask if I eat fast food, drink alcohol, smoke, eat chips and candy, drink soda, etc. Has anyone else had to fill out these type of forms? Thank you!!
First: Thanks Jeff, for publishing these excellent primers. I have a question about the accommodation process at my employer. The deadline for submitting requests for accommodation is Jan 4. They will review the requests between Jan 5 and Mar 15. Then, starting April 4, it says "If you are unable to secure an accommodation, you will be placed on unpaid leave. The unpaid leave will begin on April 4 and last for at least 3 months. The duration of the leave may be extended to align with federal requirements and you will *not* be terminated." They seem to be claiming that the unpaid leave is a federal requirement, but I cannot find any justification for this. It also implies there is no alternative to being placed on leave at that point. Is it correct that once you have filed a request for an accommodation, you can no longer choose to get vaccinated and avoid being placed on leave? For example, if one went out and got a shot of J&J as soon as the accommodation was rejected, then two weeks later could they force an unpaid leave on a now fully-vaccinated employee merely because they had submitted an accommodation request that was rejected? Thanks.
Jeff: I am deeply moved by your response. I am inspired by your love for God and the depth of your convictions. Your rich, powerful writing glows with them. You continue to demonstrate an intelligence, commitment and passion which make you a precious gift from God to me. Thank you for your inspiration as a role model and for your enormous contribution to freedom in what is becoming a darker world. I feel satisfaction for the financial support I have pledged to your effort. There aren’t many things that provide such great ROI. :)
Those questions that are being used in an attempt to derail people’s religious objections are foul and intrusive! As if they had the right approve or disapprove a person’s personal convictions. What more will these people stoop to?
Thank you…. Just thank you.
Agree. Feeling blessed to stumble upon Jeff’s work. Thank you!!!
I would love to see a topic on the next steps, denied Religious Exemptions and how to legally proceed. As I am in this phase. I sent a request asking the reasons for my denial and for an appeals process. The written response back was that the reasons would not be made public and there is no appeals process. They are trying to use the terminology of “separation “ instead of firing. I will not sign anything. But what are our next steps? Seems like if you work in healthcare, airline, federal, have a union or military, these people are getting help. Private employers seem to be steamrolling over us. What do we do?
Yes, I am thinking about writing this post.
I got you: File an EEOC complaint.
https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/religious-accommodation-in-the-workplace-the-devil-is-in-the-detail/
This is an outstanding read. I have already submitted my religious exemption request and am now awaiting The Verdict, but I was pleased to see that I had taken a similar approach in mine, which I had an attorney review prior to submission. I fully intend to file a religious discrimination suit against my employer should they deny my accommodation request.
Should you also add into the statement what accommodations you are seeking? My job is full time telework, and I am only seeking the opportunity to continue to work as I have been, from home. There is absolutely no way that they can show that keeping me at home working with zero contact with the public or coworkers is an undue burden.
Yes, this is a good idea.
I did, for the same exact reason. I've been working remotely since BEFORE the pandemic. Therefore, there is no possible way that my continuation of the status quo could ever be regarded by my employer as an "undue hardship" to their operations. I'm sure your accommodation will be accepted. I fully expect that mine will be, too. My faith in the Lord is strong, and I know he will lead me where I need to be--maybe even into a lawsuit with a large enough settlement that I can retire!
If your employer is a federal contractor - back before they turned evil and were trying to persuade people to get vaccinated they sent an email that said you get paid two days off or however long it takes to recover from vaccine side effects. In my state an advertisement trying to convince people to get vaccinated had a young person saying the protection offers was worth the few days being sick from the shot. You may be avoiding an "undue hardship" to their operations. Isn't up to the employer whether they accept the exemption requests? For small employers that know you, I would hope it would be automatic but there may be some pressure on federal contractors not to accept the requests, which again is discrimination.
That’s the spirit!
I based my letter on this solid one from the Michigan GOP 13th district. Good stuff. Make sure you correct the typos and personalize, personalize, personalize.
https://migop13.org/blog/2021/8/20/religious-exemption-form-letter-for-covid-jab
I only skimmed, but my impression is I'm not impressed. How would this address the fact that you have taken other medicines or vaccines in the past.
Jeff DID cover this, under Question 3:
I generally don’t take vaccines, but I did have childhood vaccines and took the flu vaccine once or twice in my early 20’s. I don’t think I’ve had any vaccines since I was saved, but to be honest, it was the Covid research that I described in my letter (see Question No. 1) that alerted me to the use of aborted baby tissue in development of many vaccines. I won’t be taking any vaccines in that category, nor will my children.
Nor will I accept ANY medical treatment of ANY kind if I have a firm conviction after prayer and reflection that I should not do so.
yes, I see that in Jeff's, but not in the link you shared.
Sorry, I was on mobile and didn't realize you were replying to my comment with the MIGOP letter. My suggestion is that's why you use multiple resources when preparing your own letter. For mine, I said something like this: "I am strongly convicted to not allow any of the COVID-19 vaccines into my body—as it is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God. For the same reasons, I never receive a seasonal flu vaccine. And this year, I have become aware of specific ingredients in certain vaccines that have caused me serious distress—including animal-derived products, often contained in vaccines. Now that I know this, I am even more firm in my objections, and after much prayerful consideration, I know now more than ever that I would not receive any vaccines moving forward."
It's hardly your fault if you were administered vaxxes as a child, and you are allowed to change your position as an adult at any time.
good advice, thank you. The Questions are probably coming from the Safer Federal Worker Task Force, which posted some "sample" questions on October 4th. Lazy agencies will just copy and paste.
Thank you for sharing this valuable information
Thank you Snark King! I’ll share with friends facing this Goliath. 💪🏻👏🏻
Thanks Jeff. This is very helpful and timely. I will review this and the linked articles many times before drafting my exemption.
I posted this question in the other article - how would you suggest someone go about doing the exemption on moral grounds, rather than religious? I was raised Christian but have not been practicing for many years now and will not succeed if I go that route. I liked what you wrote about the "Title VII’s protections also extend nonreligious beliefs if they are related to morality, ultimate ideas about life, purpose, and death. ".
You definitely have a moral argument. It needs to track the line you quoted. Just rephrase and build it along similar lines to my example.
I might say that this whole COVID thing is bringing you to faith! For me, I call it The Great COVID Awakening. Don't be ashamed of that; praise God that this whole horrible mess has been used to open the spiritual eyes of millions of people! :-)
Agree! I'm feeling a lot more religion these days; grateful for miracles that only God can provide!
If you are a vegetarian or vegan, you can cite the use of animals in development of all the vaccines as your moral objection.
If you are opposed to abortion, you should also be able to use the fetal cell line objection on moral grounds.
My feeling on this is regardless of the fetal cell use or not, the MRNA vaccine is in fact software that programs the cell to perform a function it was not designed to do. God has his own programming language in rna and dna. Everything God created was done with His word. This gene therapy changes the Word of God and is blasphemous. It goes against God’s creation from the Beginning!
I have friends and family facing this. One particular is a NICU nurse at Bronson Hospital in Michigan. They are not accepting any exemptions whatsoever. They will lose close to 400 employees I’m told come Dec 1.
Is there any recourse for those employees? Not asking for legal advice. Just direction, if there can be a pending law suit for the hospital totally disregarding religious liberties in this way?
The employees should document everything. See my post for folks facing employer mandates.
Why do we have to write a lengthy Thesis to "prove" our deeply held beliefs ? This in of itself is Orwellian and UN Constitutional. Some board of technocrats rules on your contributions to society or if and when and how you practice or practices your faith ! What's next if this autocratic tyranny is allowed to continue ? I for one will not beg nor plead for an exemption. And how long will King presidents send men off to 'police actions' force shots, tell us what our opinions are going to be and so on with a fiat mandate !!!? Without a vote of congress and a supreme court examination that urinates on the Constitution in many cases !!?
Thank you so much for this. This fellow Southern Baptist, sister in Christ — and nurse with 28 years experience — is so grateful for everything that you share and do.
I submitted a religious exemption and it was broad about moral beliefs. They came back with questions surrounding fetal stem cell when that was only mentioned in one detail of my religious exemption and they excluded asking for clarification on anything else. Why do you think they wanted to gear it towards the fetal stem cell reason? Should I restate many times in my responses to follow up questions that my refusal is not just based on fetal stem cells?
Thank you for sharing this! I appreciate all the comments as well. I have submitted a religious accommodation and my company responded by telling me to fill out a Body Temple Attestation form AND Natural Immune System Attestation form.
Both forms ask if my child(ren) have received specific vaccines (of course asked about my vaccines as well). I understand they are trying to obtain as much information as possible to show the way I live contradicts my request for accommodation (based on “glorifying God in my body” and “God-given immunity”), but are they allowed to ask for my child’s vaccination status? Does this violate HIPPA? My husband doesn’t want that information shared with my company as he is also my son’s legal guardian, not just me.
It was threatened in the forms that I must answer all questions or my request for accommodation will be denied.
They also ask if I eat fast food, drink alcohol, smoke, eat chips and candy, drink soda, etc. Has anyone else had to fill out these type of forms? Thank you!!
First: Thanks Jeff, for publishing these excellent primers. I have a question about the accommodation process at my employer. The deadline for submitting requests for accommodation is Jan 4. They will review the requests between Jan 5 and Mar 15. Then, starting April 4, it says "If you are unable to secure an accommodation, you will be placed on unpaid leave. The unpaid leave will begin on April 4 and last for at least 3 months. The duration of the leave may be extended to align with federal requirements and you will *not* be terminated." They seem to be claiming that the unpaid leave is a federal requirement, but I cannot find any justification for this. It also implies there is no alternative to being placed on leave at that point. Is it correct that once you have filed a request for an accommodation, you can no longer choose to get vaccinated and avoid being placed on leave? For example, if one went out and got a shot of J&J as soon as the accommodation was rejected, then two weeks later could they force an unpaid leave on a now fully-vaccinated employee merely because they had submitted an accommodation request that was rejected? Thanks.