From FRC’s Tony Perkins:
Under the Biden administration, the armed forces have been aggressively pushing soldiers to get the COVID vaccine or face the consequences. The new rules threaten to harm military retention and recruitment. For Christians, vaccine mandates pose a host of complex questions and conscience concerns. Monday, First Liberty Institute attorney and Marine Corps reservist Mike Berry joined Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch” to discuss the military’s recent efforts to force service members to get vaccinated.
Tony Perkins: All branches of the U.S. military have set deadlines for service members to get the COVID vaccine. Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps active-duty service members have deadlines in November. Last week, the U.S. Army announced that active-duty soldiers have until December 15th to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who do not get the COVID shot could face a possible discharge from the military. For those seeking waivers to avoid immunization, there are essentially two options — medical or religious exemptions. But some have been reportedly told that pursuing religious exemptions would be futile… Let’s start with this. Is it futile for members of the military to seek a religious exemption from the vaccine?
Mike Berry: Absolutely not. Federal law, regulations, the Constitution… they all protect the right of service members to request religious exemptions from this vaccine mandate and any military official, any commanding officer or anyone in the chain of command who tries to say otherwise is simply not telling the truth. And I suspect that many of them are, whether wittingly or unwittingly, misleading their troops…
Read the entire piece here.
