{"id":1186967,"date":"2022-01-04T12:05:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T17:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1186967"},"modified":"2022-01-04T12:05:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T17:05:52","slug":"cruz-president-biden-is-wrong-for-punishing-our-servicemembers-over-their-religious-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cruz-president-biden-is-wrong-for-punishing-our-servicemembers-over-their-religious-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz: \u2018President Biden Is Wrong For Punishing Our Servicemembers Over Their Religious Freedom\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcruz-president-biden-is-wrong-for-punishing-our-servicemembers-over-their-religious-freedom%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1186967&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz ripped President Joe Biden over the refusal to accommodate religious exemptions from the military\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, claiming he is \u201cpunishing\u201d servicemembers.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz shared the words alongside the comment that he is \u201cpleased\u201d that a judge issued a temporary stay in the case of a group of Navy SEALs who sued for not being allowed a religious accommodation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident Biden is wrong for punishing our Servicemembers over their religious freedom,\u201d Cruz wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am pleased to see a judge issued a stay against Biden\u2019s authoritarian vaccine mandate,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">President Biden is wrong for punishing our Servicemembers over their religious freedom.<\/p>\n<p>I am pleased to see a judge issued a stay against Biden\u2019s authoritarian vaccine mandate.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/waFYUmWKCy\">https:\/\/t.co\/waFYUmWKCy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenTedCruz\/status\/1478388453008191494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In an earlier post, Cruz also noted the ruling in the case as \u201ca major win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This is a major win!<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xyhifeKAJE\">https:\/\/t.co\/xyhifeKAJE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenTedCruz\/status\/1478201629535088641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In December, Cruz served as part of a team of conservative lawmakers who filed an amicus brief in the case of&nbsp;<em>U.S. Navy Seals v. Biden.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 religious liberty and the government\u2019s asserted interest in protecting our service members from COVID-19 need not be in conflict, especially where, as here, the individuals seeking an exemption are willing to adopt non-vaccination measures to protect themselves and others from the spread of COVID-19,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are only in conflict here because Defendants refuse to accommodate Plaintiffs\u2019 religious objections even as they accommodate those who will not receive the vaccine for non-religious reasons. This violates RFRA by substantially burdening Plaintiffs\u2019 religious beliefs without a compelling reason, and violates the First Amendment\u2019s guarantee that government not discriminate against religion,\u201d the amicus brief added.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz and the others in the amicus brief highlighted the importance of religious freedom among military personnel regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReligious freedom is fundamental to every American\u2019s liberty, but we have seen in recent years increasing hostility among elected and appointed government officials towards those who seek to exercise that freedom,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In mid-December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/12\/19\/troops-find-religious-exemption-for-covid-19-vaccines-unattainable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Military Times<\/a> reported, \u201cMore than 12,000 military service members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine are seeking&nbsp;religious exemptions, and so far they are having zero success.\u201d The outlet noted that an overwhelming number of requests have been filed among the various branches of the Armed Forces:<\/p>\n<p><em>Air Force officials initially said religious exemption requests would be answered in 30 days. But they have gotten more than 4,700 requests \u2014 far more than the other military services, and the logistics of the lengthy review process has made it difficult to meet that timeline. The Navy has received about 2,700 religious exemption requests, the Marine Corps has 3,100 and the Army about 1,700.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The new preliminary injunction offers some hope that the situation could change. The current injunction only applies to those involved in the case, but the ruling could be used in other cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Navy service\u200b \u200bmembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect,\u201d District Judge Reed O\u2019Connor wrote in his <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/01\/04\/judge-blocks-pentagon-from-punishing-unvaccinated-navy-seals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">order<\/a>. \u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz ripped President Joe Biden over the refusal to accommodate religious exemptions from the military\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, claiming he is \u201cpunishing\u201d servicemembers. Cruz shared the words alongside the comment that he is \u201cpleased\u201d that a judge issued a temporary stay in the case of a group of Navy SEALs who &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1186967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}