Friend:

What does it say about the religious extremist mindset that they would sacrifice immunity from a deadly virus in order to feed their need to assert their privilege?

How about that there is nothing they won’t stop at—from risking lives to overthrowing democracy—in order to win. There has never been a more important time for Americans United to fight back.  

This week, AU, joined by 11 civil liberties, religious and interfaith organizations, urged a federal appellate court to reject a lawsuit that seeks to force New York State to provide religious exemptions from its COVID vaccination requirement for health care workers. We expect this is far from the end of our need to guide the courts in such lawsuits.

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that religious freedom does not give religious objectors “general immunity from secular laws.” Yet they keep trying to achieve just that. The New York case, We the Patriots USA v. Hochul, is part of a wave of lawsuits resisting long-overdue government, industry and employer policies making vaccination a condition of employment. *And note the name of the plaintiff’s organization: religious extremism is apparently the new patriotism.

The new rules have dramatically increased vaccine rates in reluctant populations, but they’ve also ignited vigorous demands for religious exemptions.

I was interviewed this week for an NPR report on this issue. The introductory quote, by a nurse at a Virginia hospital, was a telling example of the circular logic that drives so many vaccine refusers to make dubious religious exemption claims:

“I possibly would have gotten it if it wasn’t such a push to get it. Then they mandate it. Now you're telling me what to do... The Bible tells you that your body is a temple… The mandate is directly affecting my religious beliefs. And that’s it.” 

Her position perfectly illustrates the slippery slope of “religious exemptions.” The bottom line is that religious exemptions—whether sincere or not—should not be granted in a public health emergency if they put someone else at risk.

“What we need to do,” I said on NPR, “is draw a line where religious freedom would put lives at risk and where it would cause harm to others, so we don’t even have to get to that calculation of sincerity.”

Americans can’t have herd immunity and mass religious exemptions at the same time. And that’s just another compelling reason why separation between government and religion is so vital to all of us. Thanks for being part of AU’s equally vital work to defend it.

With hope and gratitude,