The last three lines of this sentence are MIND BLOWING.
"The measure would require private employers, including small business owners, to provide exemptions to any vaccination requirements if an employee has a “sincere” religious belief about the health benefits of a vaccine."
I should probably just avoid this whole subject, but, I'm a sucker. For the record, I'm fully vaccinated since birth and so are my children.
For obvious reasons this is becoming more political, but, until very recently it was usually hippies, or people who lived a "natural" life who objected to vaccines. We all went to school with people who were not immunized, we just didn't know it for the most part. Outbreaks were usually kept relatively small because vaccination rates were generally above 90 or 95%. Because we all went to school with those people, we all work with people who have no vaccinations now. It's just now they're making it another culture war cudgel.
Anyway, most states(looks like 44) still have religious exemption laws on the books about this and 15 with philosophical belief exemptions. That's less than there were before as some states have been repealing them in recent years. I remember, for example, California was one of the states that had a few breakouts due to a lot of personal exemptions 10 years ago and ended up repealing that part of their law in 2016.
The problem really is that they're being overused now, to the point that vaccinations for incoming kids in many school districts(including the one we live in now) are falling below 90%. I made the decision to pull my kids out said school district and I imagine a lot of people are going to have to make that decision in the future as vaccination rates continue to decline.
What religions would an exemption be applicable? I thought religions stress the importance and sanctity of life, which require to take all necessary actions to prevent the spread of disease and death.
In other words, a "religious exemption" for vaccines suggests the person requesting the exemption is not actually religious at all...
@trueslicky There are christian sects that eschew all medical intervention. @BE
Jehovah's Witnesses, I believe, but being able to list some off is way outside of my knowledge base.
"Among the thousands of American Christians seeking religious exemptions, some are disingenuously using their faith as a pretense for vaccine refusal, others are expressing their tenuous interpretations of the teachings of Christian faith, and others are invoking their own personal religious commitments while acknowledging that these commitments are not shared or supported by their religious authorities."
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/are-vaccine-exemptions-actually-religious
Ultimately, if you're religious and want to have your actions in line with your beliefs, you get vaccinated. Full stop.
@trueslicky @BE Yep. It's abuse of the law/rule just like all the other things they do. They're not breaking laws, but rather stretching them such that they no longer have meaning.
@BE Same. @trueslicky