![]() ![]() A very few, such as Dutch Reformed Congregations and Faith Tabernacle, do have concerns, according to Vanderbilt University Medical Center research. ![]() Most religions have no prohibition against vaccinations. “The notion of protection of life is critical to this discussion, and the risk to others and not just to ourselves,” Grodin said. Grodin long taught a course on religious bioethics that examined the controversy inherent in major public health issues, including exemptions to mandatory vaccination. Michael Grodin, an emeritus professor of health law, ethics and human rights at the Boston University School of Public Health. “I am called to do this, to support people,” she said “And protect their right to bodily autonomy.”Ĭorrigan’s teachings don’t exactly mesh with the tenets of many religions that espouse an obligation to society, said Dr. Her goal is to be ordained as a minister and go to law school. She traces her passion for religion to a long line of ancestors who, she said, fought for religious freedoms. She describes her own faith as Christian, but strongly values Buddhist principles. They typically run three hours and cost $25 per person.Ĭorrigan, who was home-schooled from the age of 8 until college, told the Globe that she has never been vaccinated. Corrigan, meanwhile, promised two more online teach-ins the next week. ![]() Nearly two hours into the session, several attendees still had questions. “Your employer, your school is trying to deny you, in many cases they are just trying to deny you.” “The forms, I strongly believe, are meant to trip you up, they ask you difficult questions,” Corrigan told the group. Instead, she recommended people write on the document “please see attached.” “It can’t be everyone who is this religion gets this type of accommodation,” he said.ĭuring Corrigan’s recent late-night Zoom session, attendees from New York, Ohio, and other states sought tips on how to best word their responses on religious exemption request forms from their employer.Ĭorrigan suggested attendees not answer questions about their religion on the forms. Now, he said, the trade association for human resource leaders is receiving more calls seeking guidance on matters of faith, and is advising companies to be consistent, such as using a core group of reviewers, to ensure consistency in their decisions.īut Dooney also advises that each employee’s request be judged on its own merits. John Dooney, an adviser for the Society for Human Resource Management, said that before COVID, most companies rarely encountered requests for religious exemptions. “We are not asking employees for any documentation but reserve the right to do so,” read the State Street statement. State Street requires employees to be vaccinated, but doesn’t ask questions if someone claims a religious exemption. Others, such as State Street Corp., a Boston-based global financial services company with about 9,000 Massachusetts employees, provided only general statements. ![]() One of the students had claimed a religious exemption, saying she is a Roman Catholic, yet acknowledged she received other vaccines in her late teenage years including flu shots.īut on Tuesday, another federal judge, this one in New York, temporarily blocked that state from forcing health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID after a group of workers sued because New York’s mandate did not allow religious exemptions.Ĭorporate squeamishness on the subject is apparently widespread several companies and universities contacted by the Globe for this story declined to comment about their process for granting religious exemptions. Employers and human resource officers are keenly aware of the growing number of lawsuits challenging mandatory shots.Ī federal judge last month dismissed a lawsuit against the University of Massachusetts over its requirement that students be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus. “As more and more people are having to deal with these mandates, the number of those opposed to them will increase, not because people are all of a sudden getting religious,” Mihet said, “but because they have to all of a sudden make decisions.”įederal civil rights law requires companies to accommodate religious beliefs that are “sincerely held,” putting employers at risk of a lawsuit if they don’t make allowances for employees’ faith-based claims.īut determining sincerity in a country deeply divided over COVID mandates has become a tense exercise, a journey into uncharted territory. ![]()
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