The 3175 is easy enough, but the form they want us to fill out has several "gotcha" questions on it that many of us feel uncomfortable answering. So we're trying to figure out how to answer them. Those questions, and my answers, are:
1. Please describe the nature of your objection to the COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
See attached letter, “Vaccine Exemption Letter - Kelley, Byron J” for that explanation.
2. Would complying with the COVID-19 vaccination requirement substantially burden your religious exercise? If so, please explain how.
See attached letter, “Vaccine Exemption Letter - Kelley, Byron J” for that explanation.
3. How long have you held the religious belief underlying your objection?
I have been a Christian since 1981. That is how long I’ve held the Christian belief underlying my objection.
4. Please describe whether, as an adult, you have received any vaccines against any other diseases (such as a flu vaccine or a tetanus vaccine) and, if so, what vaccine you most recently received and when, to the best of your recollection.
I have no recollection of receiving any vaccines other than what was given to me during my military service, 1982 thru 1992, the common flu shot, which was NOT developed or tested using fetal tissue/stem cells.
5. If you do not have a religious objection to the use of all vaccines, please explain why your objection is limited to particular vaccines.
I have a Christian objection to receiving any vaccine that was developed and tested using fetal tissue/stem cells.
6. If there are any other medicines or products that you do not use because of the religious belief underlying your objection, please identify them.
N/A – Question not relevant.
7. Please provide any additional information that you think may be helpful in reviewing your request.
I know this will seem a bit bold on my part, but I know these questions are designed as “gotcha questions,” used to find some way of denying this request. Given that, there are some things you need to know.
First, I will not sign the template that Civilian Personnel provided. I’ve been advised that my letter is sufficient for your needs.
Second, Questions 3, 4, 5 & 6 are legally invalid.
According to guidance received from Liberty Counsel:
Employees may have religious accommodation requests stating their sincerely held religious beliefs injecting any of the three currently available COVID-19 vaccines would be a sin and a violation of their religious beliefs because they are manufactured and produced with, tested on, or otherwise developmentally connected to aborted fetal cell lines.
Many employers have responded to employee submissions with intrusive and irrelevant questions about employees’ past personal health decisions and the theological bases for those decisions, or demands that employees vet their religious beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines with a third party to justify their accommodation requests.
The premises of these questions—that an employee’s current request for religious accommodation must be consistent with the employees’ prior health decisions and religious understandings, or must be acknowledged by a person other than the employee—are legally invalid premises for deciding religious accommodation requests, and any denial based on such premises violates Title VII.
In addition, according to guidance received from Liberty First Legal:
PAST VACCINATIONS DO NOT NEGATE A PRESENT OR FUTURE RIGHT TO DECLARE EXEMPTION. This is probably one of the most popular fallacies. Courts recognize that people can change and grow in their faith beliefs and understandings. Just because you got a vaccination in the past does not eliminate your right to assert a religious exemption now or in the future.
Lastly, according to Avoidthevax legal representatives:
1. It does not matter how new your belief is, or how long you’ve believed as you do.
2. It does not matter whether you have vaccinated in the past if you were not aware that such vaccines utilized aborted fetal cell lines or other religious objections at the time you received the vaccine. You may have decided afterward that it was wrong and unethical to capitalize on aborted baby parts, no matter how new the decision or tenuous the connection may be to the vaccine.
3. If you have not lived out your sincerely held religious beliefs with perfection this does not disqualify you from raising a Title VII accommodation request. Nobody lives out their beliefs with perfection, nor can your sincerely held beliefs be invalidated for failure to live them out with perfection.
What do you all think? Please make any suggestions you feel can assist. Thanks.
See US vs Ballard and US vs Seeger. Up you may believe what cannot be proven, and you cannot make someone prove their beliefs as they may be incomprehensible to others.
I’d remove the “Question not relevant.”. The goal is to get the exemption approved. That phrase you use seems like you’re poking the bear. Poke the bear after the exemption is approved.