11/05/2021

A COVID-19 Vaccination Religious Accommodation Request - Approved

When my employer announced a COVID-19 vaccination mandate as a condition of future employment, the policy allowed for employees to request a medical or religious accommodation, as required by law.  After submitting a notarized affidavit stating simply that the immunization requirement is contrary to my sincerely held religious beliefs, I was asked to answer three additional questions.  As my answers resulted in getting approved, I'd like to share my testimony as an example to others that are looking for guidance or inspiration.

Question 1: Describe in detail the reason(s) why you believe the COVID-19 vaccination requirement conflicts with your sincerely held religious belief. This should include information about your religious affiliation (if any).

As an introduction to these questions, let me first state that I believe that forcing me to present this level of deeply personal and private information is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, if not according to case law (which I have no professional background to confidently ascertain), then at least the spirit of the law, as is known to me via the "EEOC COVID FAQ" section K.12, which states that when an employee notifies an employer of a sincerely held religious belief that prevents the employee from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, that the employer must provide a reasonable accommodation unless it would impose an undue hardship, and that the employer should "ordinarily assume" that the request is sincerely held.  It further states that only if the employer is aware of facts that provide an objective basis for questioning the religious nature or the sincerity of the beliefs of the employee is the employer justified in requesting additional supporting information.  As [Company Name] has not made any such facts available to me, but is requesting that I fill out this detailed information as a condition of employment, I believe this creates a hostile work environment and I am submitting this level of personal and private information under coercion and duress.

My sincere religious beliefs that conflict with the COVID-19 vaccination requirement are listed below, each one building on the next, and all of which align to my Christian / Catholic upbringing and the nature of my religious beliefs expressed in answers (2) and (3) below.
  1. I believe in God, the creator of the universe, and that God sought spiritual experiences through the creation of a material world.
  2. I believe each person exists physically for the sole purpose of developing spiritually, in accordance with the will of God.
  3. I believe in the absolute sovereignty of the individual, of the gift of free will, as a divine expression of the will of God, given to us as a necessary and critical component for our spiritual development.
  4. I believe God created a material world that operates by "natural law" and gifted man with "the light of reason" in order for each person to identify that which is good versus that which is evil, as a necessary and critical component for our spiritual development.
  5. I believe that in order to develop spiritually, each person must use their gift of free will to discipline themselves to pursue that which is good, and to reject and abstain from that which is evil.
  6. I believe the byproducts of the murder of the unborn (including but not limited to "aborted fetuses", "fetal cells", "cell lines", "cellular debris", "protein", "DNA" and other euphemisms to mask a great evil with a scientific veneer of respectability) are an admitted factor in the development, testing, and/or production of all vaccines and is therefore an evil that I reject and must abstain from consuming, injecting, or having any other form of active or passive participation, to the best of my ability.
  7. I believe I am capable and responsible for judging for myself that which is evil, such that when the Vatican issues a note on "the morality of using some anti-COVID-19 vaccines" I am morally, spiritually, and religiously required to not accept a conclusion ad verecundiam, but it is my duty to read this document and decide whether or not I agree with the conclusion, as any error in judgement is my own responsibility, one that I will pay for in this life or the next, and excusing any spiritual mistake made by me based on submission to a figure of authority, even a religious authority, is degrading and rejecting the divine free will and faculties of reason granted me by God.
  8. I believe that the Vatican's issuance on the morality of COVID-19 vaccines, stating that "the moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation is not obligatory if there is a grave danger" would not apply to me or my family for several reasons, including that our "infection fatality rate" (IFR) is so low for our age and fitness level demographic that it would not constitute a "grave danger" that would remove my moral, spiritual, and religious obligation to reject and abstain from that which I believe to be evil.  Given the fact that I have already suffered and recovered from COVID-19 and now have natural immunity, my risk level is essentially zero, which would be such a stretch of the term "grave danger" as to insult the faculty of reason granted me by God.
  9. I believe that it is my moral, spiritual, and religious obligation to employ my faculties of reason to pay attention to the material world around me, and to be ever cognizant of the scripture that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" such that I will not be deceived by evil, even when it comes from the siren song of authority, respectability, and science.
  10. I believe my faculties of reason have detected logical fallacies and contradictions from the official voices of authority, respectability, and science in their support of COVID-19 policies and mandates, which give me pause to instead listen to the voice of the spirit and my conscience that they are attempting to deceive me and the rest of the public in order to promote great evils.
  11. I believe it is a great evil that many of the social norms that have been rejected and abolished in the name of COVID-19 policies and mandates were important features of life and are critical for the development of spiritual growth, which is the purpose for which God put us on this earth.
  12. I believe these social norms include the ability to see the faces of other human beings, to see the smile on a face as a reflection of the divine spirit of God.
  13. I believe these social norms include the practice of shaking hands, of hugging, and living a life without fear that an invisible and imperceptible virus exists within the body of every other human being, and this concept is itself a great evil that rejects the blessings of this life, given to us by God.
  14. I believe these social norms are especially important for the development of children, especially for the development of their spiritual growth, which is the purpose for which they were put on this earth by God, and that it is a great evil to force children to social distance, to wear masks, to prevent them from seeing the faces of other human beings behind masks, and to be consumed with a fear that every other human being is an invisible and imperceptible threat, rather than a great blessing given to us by God.
  15. I believe the rejection and abolition of these social norms, which are critical to the spiritual development of human beings, the very purpose of the gift of life given by God, is therefore a great evil, and I am morally, spiritually, and religiously compelled to reject and abstain from these evils, to the best of my ability.
  16. I believe the rejection and abolition of these social norms are mainly harming the innocent and the children, while the "rulers of this world", those that control "principalities" and power in "high places" have seized upon the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to create additional powers for themselves which place restrictions and mandates that interfere with the divine free will of every human being, which is itself a great evil that I am morally, spiritually, and religious compelled to reject and abstain from, to the best of my ability.
  17. I believe the implementation of mandates that prevent those that reject the COVID-19 injection from being able to buy or sell, or from holding a job, or otherwise living life in the society of their fellow man, who were put here to aid in their spiritual development, is itself a great evil that I am morally, spiritually, and religiously compelled to reject and abstain from, to the best of my ability.
  18. I believe the implementation of a digital tracking system, described as a "vaccine passport", which could be used to coerce and control the behavior of every human being, in conflict with the divine exercise of their free will, is itself a great evil that I am morally, spiritually, and religiously compelled to reject and abstain from, to the best of my ability.
In summary, I sincerely hold these religious beliefs that pertain to the existence of God, the meaning of life as spiritual development, the necessary gifts of free will and "the light of reason" to aid in spiritual development, and the responsibilities each person has to pursue their spiritual development by employing "the light of reason" to identify good and evil and then to use the gift of free will to discipline themselves to pursue good and to reject and abstain from evil.  Furthermore, I sincerely believe that it is my moral, spiritual, and religious duty to reject and abstain from practices that I believe to be evil, including the consumption of all vaccines, especially the COVID-19 vaccine, the rejection of traditional social norms that have taken place as a result of the COVID-19 policies, as well as the imposition of COVID-19 mandates that interfere with the divine exercise of free will.

Question 2: Please identify above the number of years you have identified with this religious belief and describe your practice or adherence to this faith (e.g. the number of times per week you attend services or religious text study, religious based dietary practices, religious-based dress, your religious leader, or teacher, etc.).

I come from a strong Catholic family where my uncle is a priest and two of my father's uncles are priests.  I went to Catholic church weekly all my life growing up.  I can still recall going to a pro-life sign-holding event in 2nd or 3rd grade.  I stopped going to mass weekly in my college years.  As a family, we pray and give thanks to God multiple times per day.  My children have been baptized and my oldest (6) goes to Sunday school.  We have chosen not to enroll our children in secular public school, but instead have begun a faith-based home schooling curriculum.  This information is meant to give a background of my Christian / Catholic world view.

It was in 2005 that I experienced a personal world-view-changing and spiritual awakening after which I went on a journey to having additional religious beliefs that preclude my use of vaccines and the belief in the absolute sovereignty of the individual as a divine expression of God.  This personal awakening and the corresponding religious beliefs could be summarized with the scripture, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" as well as:
"On Earth, there is a great need for discipline, but 'discipline' does not mean dictatorship. The Great Spirit, the Creator himself obliges no creature, human or otherwise, to do anything against their will. We all have free will and it is up to us to discipline ourselves in order to improve spiritually.

To impose one's will on another, in a way which deprives the individual of the privilege of exercising his own free will, is one of the greatest crimes that man can commit."
Question 3: Please describe above the manner (if any) that the same religious beliefs that are the basis for your objection to the COVID-19 vaccine impacts or informs other aspects of your life or manifests itself in other ways of your life.  Please be as specific/detailed as possible.

Due to my sincerely held religious beliefs (see Question 1) my entire family is completely vaccine-free.  My wife and I do not take any vaccinations, and our children are completely unvaccinated.  This has admittedly made life more difficult when it comes to finding an accommodating pediatrician for our children, but we do what we must to live by our religious beliefs and values.

My religious beliefs are manifested in how my family has approached this entire pandemic.  While other families cut themselves off from each other, causing parents to miss children, and grandparents to miss grandchildren, our family never allowed the fear to impact how we decided to live the gift of life given by God.  My father admittedly would be considered high-risk, as he is over 60, has had open heart surgery, and is on various medications.  Due to our religious beliefs that the gift of life should be celebrated, and that we live in our faith of God, and not in fear, we never distanced or isolated ourselves.  My grandchildren saw their grandparents nearly every week these last two years.  When the members of our family did catch COVID-19, we were able to beat it naturally by the grace of God.

Finally, my pro-life religious beliefs are consistent across other public policy positions outside of protecting the life of the unborn, aligned with my beliefs that I should "abstain from every form of evil" and "take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."  I am against all forms of aggressive violence and threats of violence, whether the violent act of murdering the unborn, the ultra-violence of mass murder in modern war, or the murder of prisoners via the death-penalty.  This religious belief extends to aggressive violent acts below the threshold of murder, whether the incarceration of human beings for malum prohibitum crimes or violating the 7th commandment and stealing in the name of "taxation".  As such, I have explicitly rejected serving companies that would violate my religious beliefs.  I will never serve a company that is an explicit "merchant of death" by manufacturing weapons of war, a pharmaceutical company that purchases "byproducts from the murder of the unborn" for use in the development, testing, and /or production of their products, nor will I serve a government project which would in effect pay my salary with stolen tax money collected under the threat of aggressive violence.

In summary, I do everything within my power to exercise my free will to consistently live by my religious beliefs - that if I believe something is evil, then I want no part in it.  I don't consume pharmacological products or partake in medical interventions that were developed, tested, or produced in any way related to the murder of the unborn, even if that murder was executed 50 years ago with many degrees of separation between now and then, just as I have explicitly rejected government projects on the grounds that the money going to me would be stolen money, and I don't want a causal link from the original act of theft (taxation) to my paycheck, even though there would also be multiple degrees of separation between myself and the original act.  If I believe something is morally wrong, it is my sincerely held religious belief that I am personally accountable to God to do everything I can to avoid complicity, and a failure to do so would be in direct violation of the divine mandate to develop spiritually during my time on earth, which is the very purpose of my life.
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