Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “religious beliefs include theistic beliefs (i.e. those that include a belief in God) as well as non-theistic moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.” One need not belong to any church or organized religion. Atheists can and do obtain religious exemptions.
Indeed, there was actually a case in Cincinnati OH a few years ago where someone successfully obtained a religious exemption from flu vaccine with their vegan belief/lifestyle
Autocratic weapon of Federal intrusion as the 14th Amendment / Civil Right Act are, they do form the last line of attack on state mandates.
Besides which, Federal mandates are already covered under the Bill of Rights.
The problem for both attacks is that the Bill of Rights does not say anything about medical freedom (since medical coercion hadn't been invented at the time of writing).
The 1A + 14A attack was already obvious in 1905, but ignored. Scientism gets to be a religion in practice and not be one in the eyes of the court - for the simple reason that by 1905, the justices were all already believers. They still are today.
Hochul's theocratic rambling might have just forced the court to finally acknowledge this 150-year lie. Or not.
The Constitution limits the authority of the government, not the people. Governors, employers and university presidents can't conjure powers for themselves in the white spaces.
As for 1905, several other really bad SCOTUS precedents were set during that same era -- "separate but equal" among them. They've all been overturned. The Jacobson ruling did NOT allow for forcible medical interventions with the penalty for noncompliance being loss of livelihood, education or any other infringement on "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". It set no limit on state police powers. Jacobson led to the forced sterilization of poor women as late as 1978, with the Bell v Buck decision determining that "compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes".
So how do those who screech "my body my choice" with regard to reproductive rights think it doesn't apply to forced vaccination?
This whole thing is just getting weird now. Between Biden's bizarre top up performance, and this “vaccines are from God” performance, to the way vaccines are now objects of ritualized orgiastic performance art among good “progressives” everywhere. I had the misfortune of bumping into two colleagues who I have not seen for 18 months today, both good Biden democrats (they are academics after all) talking excitedly about getting their boosts by hook or by crook. One is a very healthy 50 year old marathon runner whose husband (a good Hollywood progressive) is pressuring her to get boosted before she flies to run in London next week (apparently they are allowing that now). She was hesitant because all of the poor sods in the developing world have not had theirs yet. My only thought was … forget the poor Nigerians, having a heart attack in the middle of your run will sure put a damper on things and is more likely. People, even smart ones, really believe that the forever booster jabs program is a magical illness protector program. They have no idea what it does or how it works, or for that matter the risks of taking the injection every few months.
The religious simile is perfect for your friend because it has reached the kind of monastic, faith driven, atavistic, zealously anti-intellectual fervor that was laughed out of polite society 600 years ago. These people have ascended to a near perfect satire of sophistication while remaining completely unaware of doing so.
the human mind seems to have a slot in it that says "put an idea bigger than me that i can believe in here."
this has long been filled by deistic religions.
but if it is not, secular religions and cults find easy purchase. this is why ideas like communism and socialisms are so anti-deism. they do not want the competition.
the core tenets of much of this modern secular evangelism tend to be "we are the enlightened, the science, the truth, and none shall question us." this is just a less honest version of "thou shall worship no god but God."
these people are the increasingly jihadi adherents to and evangelical cult that demands they refuse to see the culthood and masks its secular priesthood in pseudoscience and credentialism.
it may be precisely that fact that protestantism attenuated so much in the west that it no longer served as an inoculation against cultist infection and thus gave rise to a plague of secular religions all in denial about being religions.
Mankind confirming again and again that Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor had his number. At least the novel only made the case once. The ongoing demonstration in reality is getting tiring.
Been weird for me since Dec 2019 and I was saying to a friend, "...and gosh NPR just can't stop flogging this Chinese flu, it's like they're desperate for an epidemic or something."
Weird is a strategy--induces learned helplessness. As the exp of your 'learned' friends shows.
When I complain about inconsistency of messaging, moved goalposts, outright lies, suppressed treatments, mandates-that-are-not-laws, etc., the response I get from my (academic, liberal) colleagues is a version of "Well what do you expect? Kind of a little naive of you to believe in things like consistency and constitutionality, isn't it? Especially in a PANDEMIC? Grow up!"
This pandemic has been a lot of things, but short on good humor is near the top of the list of things I miss most. You are most delightful, my furry friend! Thanks for being both wise and of good cheer.
born and raised in CA.. always thought it was the best state because I was indoctrinated to think so. There is SO much natural beauty here but gov't is destroying the potential. LA/SF are dumpster fires.. oh what could have been. NY seems worse. Recommendations on places to move?
Moving from state to state could mean a lifetime of nomadic wandering. Remember, no governor is forever. The next one could put you right back where you started from. Or refugees from a blue state who don't understand why their own states collapsed could turn your new red state blue. I don't know what the solution is, but if you do decide to move, be prepared to keep moving -- assuming that the federal government will allow you to move interstate without being jabbed or otherwise in conformity with the latest federal mandates. (Yes, I know ... I'm a gloom-and-doomster. But I sincerely hope someone can find an answer to this mess.)
The American safety-valve principle applies here. The states that are protecting freedom now will attract voters who value freedom, to a self-reinforcing effect. At least until another generation comes along.
Montana is long on both natural beauty and vax freedom—at least, for the foreseeable future. Highly recommend, if you don't mind the cold.
"Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte on April 13 issued an executive order banning the development or use of vaccine passports, according to the AP. The governor said in a statement that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine 'is entirely voluntary and will not be mandated by the state of Montana, nor compelled through vaccine passports, vaccine passes, or other compulsory means.'
wow...well, yeah, we shouldn't need a religious exemption. We should just be able to say "no thanks, I'm good" and move on. These leaders have gone mad.
that is the creepiest F^cking thing I've seen since this whole fiasco started. Im going to start wearing an armband with a red inverted triangle ( a nabla) on it with a big black letter 'U' meaning unvaxxed.
I have strong faith, but I object to the injections on many fronts, including that the makers of the pharmaceutical products have shown themselves to be anything but trustworthy. Big pharma indemnity and the government's overreach in every G7 country, pushing for a "needle in every arm," set off red flags and alarm bells. When pushing came to shoving and threatening (Trudeau, Biden, Morrison, Macron).
I am also, however, opposed to the injections on faith-grounds for the following reason. I believe it is against the sanctity of my "holy temple" to allow a product to be injected into me that will hijack my cells with MRNA. The MRNA will program my cells to create something they were not meant to create. Nobody knows for how long this will occur, or where the nanoparticles might land. Combined with the myriad of websites promoting bio-digital convergence (Horizon's Canada) and describing the WEF's obsession with trans-humanism (Sociable.com), I am repulsed.
The pharma kingpins pushing these shots (multiple times per year, no less, possible forever) are now coming for the little ones (5-11). The talking heads promoting the shots as the "only way out" appear less human all of the time.
I am thankful for my faith. Without it, this would be unbearable.
the more I think about this , the more i bothers me. We 've seen and read alot about how this whole episode has turned into a religious cult of hygiene with its craven rituals of hand sanitization and distancing... and then of course the masichistic ritualistic purification by stabbing ones own flesh with the holy vaccine. I realize that every religion needs to have its heretics of course, the unvaccinated. But every religion needs to have its sacrificial offering. In the COVID religion the sacrificial "object" is children. The masking of children for something for which they are not at risk , is easily the most vile, satanic thing I've ever witnesses in my life. The people behind this forced masking of children, I m sure, if given the chance, would probably physically defile them, rape and torture and murder them, in the name of purification
Are we going to have an "american inquisition ", a holy vaccine war, in which armies of the faithful vaccinated torture and force the unvaxxed to accept the wisdom and will of Fauci and accept the vaccine as a purifying rite of passage?
Every day I wake up in the morning and thank god for giving me the strength to GTFO of NYC this past January. The entire city is the epitome of grotesque urban decay, and it's all promoted by gross mismanagement, corruption, and neglect. It's a prime example of what happens when you allow uncontested liberals to infiltrate every aspect of society.
Kathy and Kamala are two women who have inside knowledge of the untold realities of their respective administrations, and they are willing to stay in said administrations and then take the reins.
Says an awful lot of their lack of morality, self-reflection and the empty space between their ears, and their handlers are VERY aware of how easy they will be to direct/influence/control.
Generally the legal test is whether a religious belief is sincerely held. The court isn't supposed to evaluate anything else about it -- legitimacy, accuracy, theological authority, ecclestiastical endorsement, consistency, general wackiness, etc.
Sincerity doesn't get challenged much, because it's nearly impossible to disprove. Besides, if you're willing to lose your job or suffer other adverse consequences because of your beliefs, that tends to show they are sincere.
Stronger argument is that the belief, even if sincerely held, cannot reasonably be accommodated due to the bona fide requirements of the job, a compelling government interest, etc. Still a high bar, but at least it doesn't require guessing what's going on inside someone's head.
So Hochul could -- at least in theory -- have an argument, but not the one she's trying to make. And the one she's trying to make may come back to bite her later. I'm actually happy for her to keep digging; the more she talks like this, the easier it is for the lawyers on the other side.
Granted, law isn't as rigorous or systematic as we like to pretend, and I've given up trying to guess what Judges will do. But I'm making the naïve and heroic assumption that it still matters.
When I hear politicians say this stuff it makes my head hurt. The religious part is just dumb pandering, but the part about how WONDERFUL the vaccines are is just flat out wrong. Politicians are the worst but people who only get their news from CNN or the Today Show are just as bad.
HELLO?!?! There's actual data and actual history now. The narrative is no longer true and the longer you cling to it, the dumber (and/or more mendacious) you look.
Briggs made a good point yesterday in a blog post that the contradictory insistence that these shots are so wonderful is part of what's driving resistance now. It's clear they aren't telling the truth, so the more they insist on the narrative the more people distrust them.
We're all Wesley / Robin in Season 5 Episode 6 now. It's less cheesy and more terrifying in real life, but you can still get a giggle in here and there.
I watched as much of Hochul's presser as I could before I had to mute it and wait for the cutaway. I was hopeful when she acknowledged the "undercount" of nursing home deaths after Cuomo was dethroned. Yesterday, I realized she is certifiably insane.
And the pope does not speak for Roman Catholics. He thinks he does...but he doesn't.
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “religious beliefs include theistic beliefs (i.e. those that include a belief in God) as well as non-theistic moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.” One need not belong to any church or organized religion. Atheists can and do obtain religious exemptions.
Indeed, there was actually a case in Cincinnati OH a few years ago where someone successfully obtained a religious exemption from flu vaccine with their vegan belief/lifestyle
Autocratic weapon of Federal intrusion as the 14th Amendment / Civil Right Act are, they do form the last line of attack on state mandates.
Besides which, Federal mandates are already covered under the Bill of Rights.
The problem for both attacks is that the Bill of Rights does not say anything about medical freedom (since medical coercion hadn't been invented at the time of writing).
The 1A + 14A attack was already obvious in 1905, but ignored. Scientism gets to be a religion in practice and not be one in the eyes of the court - for the simple reason that by 1905, the justices were all already believers. They still are today.
Hochul's theocratic rambling might have just forced the court to finally acknowledge this 150-year lie. Or not.
The Constitution limits the authority of the government, not the people. Governors, employers and university presidents can't conjure powers for themselves in the white spaces.
As for 1905, several other really bad SCOTUS precedents were set during that same era -- "separate but equal" among them. They've all been overturned. The Jacobson ruling did NOT allow for forcible medical interventions with the penalty for noncompliance being loss of livelihood, education or any other infringement on "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". It set no limit on state police powers. Jacobson led to the forced sterilization of poor women as late as 1978, with the Bell v Buck decision determining that "compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes".
So how do those who screech "my body my choice" with regard to reproductive rights think it doesn't apply to forced vaccination?
Not all of us screech :)
Amen sister
And awoman
And a-cats
Just no.
Wow, thanks.
This is really interesting...could you point me to a section? I can't seem to find that in a search of the text of that bill here: https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/questions-and-answers-religious-discrimination-workplace
This whole thing is just getting weird now. Between Biden's bizarre top up performance, and this “vaccines are from God” performance, to the way vaccines are now objects of ritualized orgiastic performance art among good “progressives” everywhere. I had the misfortune of bumping into two colleagues who I have not seen for 18 months today, both good Biden democrats (they are academics after all) talking excitedly about getting their boosts by hook or by crook. One is a very healthy 50 year old marathon runner whose husband (a good Hollywood progressive) is pressuring her to get boosted before she flies to run in London next week (apparently they are allowing that now). She was hesitant because all of the poor sods in the developing world have not had theirs yet. My only thought was … forget the poor Nigerians, having a heart attack in the middle of your run will sure put a damper on things and is more likely. People, even smart ones, really believe that the forever booster jabs program is a magical illness protector program. They have no idea what it does or how it works, or for that matter the risks of taking the injection every few months.
The religious simile is perfect for your friend because it has reached the kind of monastic, faith driven, atavistic, zealously anti-intellectual fervor that was laughed out of polite society 600 years ago. These people have ascended to a near perfect satire of sophistication while remaining completely unaware of doing so.
the human mind seems to have a slot in it that says "put an idea bigger than me that i can believe in here."
this has long been filled by deistic religions.
but if it is not, secular religions and cults find easy purchase. this is why ideas like communism and socialisms are so anti-deism. they do not want the competition.
the core tenets of much of this modern secular evangelism tend to be "we are the enlightened, the science, the truth, and none shall question us." this is just a less honest version of "thou shall worship no god but God."
these people are the increasingly jihadi adherents to and evangelical cult that demands they refuse to see the culthood and masks its secular priesthood in pseudoscience and credentialism.
it may be precisely that fact that protestantism attenuated so much in the west that it no longer served as an inoculation against cultist infection and thus gave rise to a plague of secular religions all in denial about being religions.
it's just the new opiate of the masses.
That explains the religious fervor of climate change as well….
The arrogance of people that absolutely, without doubt, believe in the afterlife has always amazed me.
underrated comment - I've been thinking this
The Nigerians are smart enough to not want this crap.
They actually have survival instincts
Mankind confirming again and again that Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor had his number. At least the novel only made the case once. The ongoing demonstration in reality is getting tiring.
All of these performances are in service to the political football game. No relation to biological reality.
LOL just getting weird...now?
Been weird for me since Dec 2019 and I was saying to a friend, "...and gosh NPR just can't stop flogging this Chinese flu, it's like they're desperate for an epidemic or something."
Weird is a strategy--induces learned helplessness. As the exp of your 'learned' friends shows.
When I complain about inconsistency of messaging, moved goalposts, outright lies, suppressed treatments, mandates-that-are-not-laws, etc., the response I get from my (academic, liberal) colleagues is a version of "Well what do you expect? Kind of a little naive of you to believe in things like consistency and constitutionality, isn't it? Especially in a PANDEMIC? Grow up!"
“ a-cats”
This pandemic has been a lot of things, but short on good humor is near the top of the list of things I miss most. You are most delightful, my furry friend! Thanks for being both wise and of good cheer.
The governments of New York and California exist to show the rest of us what not to do. I thank them for their service.
born and raised in CA.. always thought it was the best state because I was indoctrinated to think so. There is SO much natural beauty here but gov't is destroying the potential. LA/SF are dumpster fires.. oh what could have been. NY seems worse. Recommendations on places to move?
Moving from state to state could mean a lifetime of nomadic wandering. Remember, no governor is forever. The next one could put you right back where you started from. Or refugees from a blue state who don't understand why their own states collapsed could turn your new red state blue. I don't know what the solution is, but if you do decide to move, be prepared to keep moving -- assuming that the federal government will allow you to move interstate without being jabbed or otherwise in conformity with the latest federal mandates. (Yes, I know ... I'm a gloom-and-doomster. But I sincerely hope someone can find an answer to this mess.)
The American safety-valve principle applies here. The states that are protecting freedom now will attract voters who value freedom, to a self-reinforcing effect. At least until another generation comes along.
Let's hope
This sounds correct in theory but I'm not so sure. Especially when the current administration just turned the border Into the autobahn.
#NowhereToRun is a hashtag that becomes closer to reality every day. In the end, #TimeToDie which may be sooner rather than later
Montana is long on both natural beauty and vax freedom—at least, for the foreseeable future. Highly recommend, if you don't mind the cold.
"Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte on April 13 issued an executive order banning the development or use of vaccine passports, according to the AP. The governor said in a statement that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine 'is entirely voluntary and will not be mandated by the state of Montana, nor compelled through vaccine passports, vaccine passes, or other compulsory means.'
Thanks!
I’ve heard Idaho is pretty great also
wow...well, yeah, we shouldn't need a religious exemption. We should just be able to say "no thanks, I'm good" and move on. These leaders have gone mad.
that is the creepiest F^cking thing I've seen since this whole fiasco started. Im going to start wearing an armband with a red inverted triangle ( a nabla) on it with a big black letter 'U' meaning unvaxxed.
Wait a month or so, the state will have a much spiffier one for you to wear.
And it will flash on your phone and on aisle screens in the grocery store.
I have strong faith, but I object to the injections on many fronts, including that the makers of the pharmaceutical products have shown themselves to be anything but trustworthy. Big pharma indemnity and the government's overreach in every G7 country, pushing for a "needle in every arm," set off red flags and alarm bells. When pushing came to shoving and threatening (Trudeau, Biden, Morrison, Macron).
I am also, however, opposed to the injections on faith-grounds for the following reason. I believe it is against the sanctity of my "holy temple" to allow a product to be injected into me that will hijack my cells with MRNA. The MRNA will program my cells to create something they were not meant to create. Nobody knows for how long this will occur, or where the nanoparticles might land. Combined with the myriad of websites promoting bio-digital convergence (Horizon's Canada) and describing the WEF's obsession with trans-humanism (Sociable.com), I am repulsed.
The pharma kingpins pushing these shots (multiple times per year, no less, possible forever) are now coming for the little ones (5-11). The talking heads promoting the shots as the "only way out" appear less human all of the time.
I am thankful for my faith. Without it, this would be unbearable.
the more I think about this , the more i bothers me. We 've seen and read alot about how this whole episode has turned into a religious cult of hygiene with its craven rituals of hand sanitization and distancing... and then of course the masichistic ritualistic purification by stabbing ones own flesh with the holy vaccine. I realize that every religion needs to have its heretics of course, the unvaccinated. But every religion needs to have its sacrificial offering. In the COVID religion the sacrificial "object" is children. The masking of children for something for which they are not at risk , is easily the most vile, satanic thing I've ever witnesses in my life. The people behind this forced masking of children, I m sure, if given the chance, would probably physically defile them, rape and torture and murder them, in the name of purification
Are we going to have an "american inquisition ", a holy vaccine war, in which armies of the faithful vaccinated torture and force the unvaxxed to accept the wisdom and will of Fauci and accept the vaccine as a purifying rite of passage?
I am actually concerned for this…..
Every day I wake up in the morning and thank god for giving me the strength to GTFO of NYC this past January. The entire city is the epitome of grotesque urban decay, and it's all promoted by gross mismanagement, corruption, and neglect. It's a prime example of what happens when you allow uncontested liberals to infiltrate every aspect of society.
I never thought the one after Cuomo could be worse. Yet people won't be upset while they're obese and happy.
Kathy and Kamala are two women who have inside knowledge of the untold realities of their respective administrations, and they are willing to stay in said administrations and then take the reins.
Says an awful lot of their lack of morality, self-reflection and the empty space between their ears, and their handlers are VERY aware of how easy they will be to direct/influence/control.
Generally the legal test is whether a religious belief is sincerely held. The court isn't supposed to evaluate anything else about it -- legitimacy, accuracy, theological authority, ecclestiastical endorsement, consistency, general wackiness, etc.
Sincerity doesn't get challenged much, because it's nearly impossible to disprove. Besides, if you're willing to lose your job or suffer other adverse consequences because of your beliefs, that tends to show they are sincere.
Stronger argument is that the belief, even if sincerely held, cannot reasonably be accommodated due to the bona fide requirements of the job, a compelling government interest, etc. Still a high bar, but at least it doesn't require guessing what's going on inside someone's head.
So Hochul could -- at least in theory -- have an argument, but not the one she's trying to make. And the one she's trying to make may come back to bite her later. I'm actually happy for her to keep digging; the more she talks like this, the easier it is for the lawyers on the other side.
Granted, law isn't as rigorous or systematic as we like to pretend, and I've given up trying to guess what Judges will do. But I'm making the naïve and heroic assumption that it still matters.
In the immortal words of Vin Diesel's Riddick, God wants no part of what comes next. (If there is a God, that's the only thing I'm sure of.)
From one would-be anti-Christ to another. New York seems to be a hot bed for them. I keep waiting for lightening to strike as they speak.
When I hear politicians say this stuff it makes my head hurt. The religious part is just dumb pandering, but the part about how WONDERFUL the vaccines are is just flat out wrong. Politicians are the worst but people who only get their news from CNN or the Today Show are just as bad.
HELLO?!?! There's actual data and actual history now. The narrative is no longer true and the longer you cling to it, the dumber (and/or more mendacious) you look.
Briggs made a good point yesterday in a blog post that the contradictory insistence that these shots are so wonderful is part of what's driving resistance now. It's clear they aren't telling the truth, so the more they insist on the narrative the more people distrust them.
We're all Wesley / Robin in Season 5 Episode 6 now. It's less cheesy and more terrifying in real life, but you can still get a giggle in here and there.
I watched as much of Hochul's presser as I could before I had to mute it and wait for the cutaway. I was hopeful when she acknowledged the "undercount" of nursing home deaths after Cuomo was dethroned. Yesterday, I realized she is certifiably insane.
And the pope does not speak for Roman Catholics. He thinks he does...but he doesn't.