U.S. pastors, advocacy groups mobilize against COVID-19 vaccine mandates
Send a link to a friend
[October 14, 2021]
By Tom Hals
(Reuters) - From the outside, First Harvest
Ministries in Waveland, Mississippi, could almost be mistaken for a
storage shed were it not for the steeple.
From the modest building however, Shane Vaughn, the Pentecostal church's
pastor, has helped spearhead an online movement promoting personal faith
as a way around workplace COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
He posts form letters for U.S. workers seeking religious exemptions that
have been downloaded from his website around 40,000 times, according to
a screen shot of web traffic he shared with Reuters.
"This is the only way out," said Vaughn, 48, of the letters, which he
makes available for free, that mix Biblical scripture with warnings to
employers of legal fallout if they are disregarded.
As the Biden administration prepares a federal vaccine mandate and more
states and companies impose them to help accelerate the pandemic's end,
letter-writing efforts by religious leaders are being reinforced by
legal advocacy groups such as Liberty Counsel.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Oct/14/images/ads/current/safety-tip-daily-6.png)
The organization said it has sent more than 100 letters to companies
including United Airlines Holdings Inc and Tyson Foods Inc vowing
litigation if they improperly reject religious exemption requests.
United spokeswoman Leslie Scott said the airline received the letter but
it had no impact on the company's actions. Tyson did not comment on the
letter.
United said about 2,000 of its 67,000 U.S. employees have requested
religious or medical exemptions. Tyson said only a "small percentage" of
its more than 100,000 employees had requested religious or medical
accommodations ahead of its Nov. 1 deadline.
U.S. employers are required by law to make reasonable job changes to
accommodate a person's religious beliefs, although they can seek
information to determine if the beliefs are religious in nature and
"sincerely held."
Many employers want regulators to provide guidance for scrutinizing
exemption requests to help protect them from lawsuits alleging they were
wrongly denied, said Roger King, of the HR Policy Association, a forum
for large companies.
While few organized religions oppose vaccines, according research by
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, U.S. law defines religion very
broadly to include unfamiliar belief systems with few adherents.
'DEALING WITH THEM ON A MASS BASIS'
Employment lawyers said form letters taken off the internet might
suggest a person's beliefs are not sincere, but it would be difficult
for an employer to determine that. Employers could be on stronger legal
ground to reject exemption requests that are based on verifiable false
statements about the vaccines, the lawyers said.
"Religious exemption requests have over years been much more rare and
now we're dealing with them on a mass basis," said Kimberly Harding, an
employment lawyer at Nixon Peabody, which advises companies.
Temple University Health System in Philadelphia, which employs 10,700
people, has already received 180 religious exemption requests, a
significant increase from what it usually gets for its annual flu shot
requirement, said John Lasky, the system's chief human resources
officer.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/101421pics/news_g13.jpg)
Pastor Shane Vaughn delivers an address in Waveland, Mississippi,
U.S., June 2, 2021 in this frame grab taken from a video. Picture
taken June 2, 2021. Shan Vaughn/Handout via REUTERS
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
Some of the exemption request forms included letter
attachments that used similar phrasing, which Lasky said might
indicate coaching, although he said they were not a determining
factor in whether a request was granted.
What mattered was whether the person could articulate how their
beliefs prevented them from getting the COVID-19 vaccine, such as if
they "tied it to eternal damnation," Lasky said.
In at least one case, an employer reversed its decision to deny a
religious exemption after receiving a letter from Liberty Counsel.
Lehigh Valley Health Network in Pennsylvania told a nursing student
on Sept. 7 it was rejecting her request because it was based on a
"factually incorrect" link between vaccines and aborted fetal cells,
according to correspondence disclosed by Liberty Counsel that
redacted the student's name.
A week later, Liberty Counsel sent a seven-page letter to Lehigh
citing health officials in North Dakota and Louisiana who said there
was a link between the vaccines and fetal cells. The group demanded
Lehigh either approve the student's request or face "prompt
litigation."
It approved the request the next day. Lehigh did not respond to
requests for comment.
A Vaughn letter turned up in one of the few successful lawsuits
against a vaccine mandate. Western Michigan University granted an
exemption to a student athlete who used his letter but was still
barred from school sports until the court intervened.
Harry Mihet, an attorney with Liberty Counsel, said the Christian
group receives thousands of messages weekly from individuals
claiming they had an exemption request denied for improper reasons.
Those include that the person's denomination endorsed the shots or
that the Pope was vaccinated, neither of which have bearing on an
individual's beliefs.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Oct/14/images/ads/current/2021_lda_Businessdirectory.png)
"I think these employers run the risk of being tied up in litigation
until kingdom come," Mihet said.
Vaughn, who served a three-year prison sentence for fraud and had a
stint running an auto dealership, said he now spends 80% of his day
helping people with employer requests for more information, such as
describing how an employee's beliefs conflict with a hospital's
vaccine policy.
Vaughn is encouraged by companies pushing back on his exemption
letters. "They are making it more difficult and adding layers to the
process," he said. "It's proof it works."
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen
Walder and Bill Berkrot)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |