On Monday, the Supreme Court allowed a Covid vaccine mandate for health care workers in New York to stand, with no allowance for religious exemption. Religious exemption? Pffft! First Amendment? What’s that?

Nor is this the first time the Supreme Court has ruled against religious exemptions, either. In October SCOTUS also told health care workers in Maine that religious exemptions won’t fly. Not only did workers in Maine make a nearly identical request, but the three justices who dissented were the same, too.

Those justices who stood up for religious liberty were Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and, of course, Clarence Thomas.

Because the New York case was an emergency application, the unsigned order the Supreme Court issued included no reasoning. However, Justice Gorsuch had words about it — a 14-page dissent, saying that the majority had betrayed religious liberty. Justice Alito joined Gorsuch in his dissent, while Thomas said that he would have blocked the vaccine requirement, but didn’t give reasons.

Justice Gorsuch wrote that health care workers will need to decide between their faith and their jobs:

“Thousands of New York health care workers face the loss of their jobs and eligibility for unemployment benefits.”

Not to mention more health care worker shortages, too.

He went on:

“These applicants are not ‘anti-vaxxers’ who object to all vaccines. Instead, the applicants explain, they cannot receive a Covid-19 vaccine because their religion teaches them to oppose abortion in any form, and because each of the currently available vaccines has depended upon abortion-derived fetal cell lines in its production or testing.”

Justice Gorsuch wasn’t completely accurate, however, when he wrote that “abortion-derived fetal cell lines” were used in production of Covid vaccines. Nor are there any fetal cells within the vaccines, as I have heard some people claim on social media. The issue is more complex.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life group which reports on research, notes:

“Most COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Use Fetal Cells for Production; Several Used Abortion-Derived Cell Lines in Testing”

Of the three most commonly used in the United States, only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine use fetal cells when it produces its vaccine. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna do not, as you can see from the chart.

Credit: Charlotte Lozier Institute.

(You can see a full chart detailing the status of all vaccines available throughout the world here.)

Plus, Christy Risinger, MD, a Christian physician, explains the history of the fetal cell line used and how it was used to develop Covid vaccines.

Certainly this issue is complicated. And not all devout Christians oppose the vaccine, either. In fact, there are no major church bodies that oppose its use, especially since there are no alternatives at this time.

However, some people may earnestly oppose the vaccine according to their beliefs. And they shouldn’t be thrown under the bus, as the Supreme Court just did.

Fortunately, not all states are ignoring its citizens’ First Amendment right to practice their religion. In Kansas, for example, state lawmakers recently passed a bill to allow no-questions-asked exemptions for public sector employees. This includes religious exemptions as well.

Prior to that, employers demanded that an individual give the name of the house of worship they attended, and how long they had been attending. Plus, they wanted the name, email, and phone number of their clergy. Talk about intrusive.

KS Attorney General Derek Schmidt warned employers not to question employees who opt out of the Covid vaccine mandate on the basis of religion:

“In Kansas, an employee’s religious faith may not be put on trial in order to obtain the waiver to which the employee is entitled by law.”

Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly signed the bill. Of course she did. She’s running for re-election in 2022, and she wants to keep her job. And her opponent is none other than AG Derek Schmidt.

Meanwhile, health care workers in New York don’t enjoy the same freedoms that workers in Kansas have. Instead, they must decide whether they want to keep their jobs or violate their consciences. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court refused to honor their religious liberties.

Justice Gorsuch wrote:

“The Free Exercise Clause protects not only the right to hold unpopular religious beliefs inwardly and secretly. It protects the right to live out those beliefs publicly.”