In a little reported headline, a US District Court judge issued a temporary injunction preventing the US military from punishing or discharging 35 US Navy SEALs and reservists who have religious objections to the COVID vaccine:

Judge Reed O’Connor, the U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Texas, issued the stay in response to a lawsuit filed by First Liberty Institute in November on behalf of 35 active-duty SEALs and three reservists seeking a religious exemption…

Despite saying they would offer a religious exemption, the US military has famously granted exactly zero such exemptions (of more than 15,000 requests), leading to skepticism of the sincerity of the military’s claims that it values religious freedom. In fact, the presiding judge called the Navy’s religious exemption process “theater”.

“The facts overwhelmingly indicate that the Navy will deny the religious accommodations,” O’Connor wrote. “The Navy has, to date, never granted a religious accommodation request for the COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, in the past seven years, the Navy has never granted a single religious exemption for any vaccine.”

A few Marines have indicated the military appears to be issuing ‘blanket denials‘ of the religious exemption requests, with the requests apparently unread and denied simply based on the need for “military readiness.”

The Navy SEALs are represented by the First Liberty Institute’s General Counsel, Mike Berry, as previously reported.

Also at Religion News Service.