{"id":1652526,"date":"2022-09-22T07:02:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T11:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1652526"},"modified":"2022-09-22T07:03:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T11:03:57","slug":"even-though-the-pandemic-is-over-the-coast-guard-still-denies-religious-exemptions-to-covid-jab-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/even-though-the-pandemic-is-over-the-coast-guard-still-denies-religious-exemptions-to-covid-jab-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"Even Though \u2018The Pandemic Is Over,\u2019 The Coast Guard Still Denies Religious Exemptions To Covid Jab Mandate"},"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\">34<\/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%2Feven-though-the-pandemic-is-over-the-coast-guard-still-denies-religious-exemptions-to-covid-jab-mandate%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=1652526&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--><div><\/div>\n<p>From an early age, Alaric Stone wanted nothing more than to serve his country in the U.S. military. Growing up as the son and great-nephew of Coast Guardsmen, Stone drew inspiration from his family\u2019s years of service and his Catholic faith when choosing to pursue a career serving others. <\/p>\n<p>Upon graduating as salutatorian of his high school class in 2016, Stone applied to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where he ultimately graduated first in his class and received the highest marks in both overall academics and the physical, military aspects of the institute\u2019s training program. Officially commissioned in May 2020, Stone has since achieved the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) and served aboard a national security cutter, one of the Coast Guard\u2019s most advanced platforms to date.<\/p>\n<p>Stone\u2019s stellar track record has also earned him the praise of his superiors, with one of his supervising officers <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/american-heroes-punished-for-their-faith-loyalty-coast-guard-officers-bring-class-action-lawsuit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently<\/a> declaring him to be an \u201cExemplary Officer [who] embodies critical leadership skills\u201d and praising his \u201ccommitment to core values.\u201d The same officer also gave Stone the \u201chighest recommendation\u201d for any future at-sea missions. <\/p>\n<p>Despite his lifelong dedication to serving his country, Stone\u2019s military career is in jeopardy as a result of the Biden administration\u2019s August 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2021\/Aug\/25\/2002838826\/-1\/-1\/0\/MEMORANDUM-FOR-MANDATORY-CORONAVIRUS-DISEASE-2019-VACCINATION-OF-DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-SERVICE-MEMBERS.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Covid shot mandate for military service members<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Citing his Catholic faith and the fact that some of the Covid jabs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.nd.gov\/sites\/www\/files\/documents\/COVID%20Vaccine%20Page\/COVID-19_Vaccine_Fetal_Cell_Handout.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">were developed with cells originally isolated from aborted fetal tissue<\/a>, Stone filed a religious exemption from the mandate in September 2021. The Coast Guard lieutenant ultimately received a letter in January 2022 informing him that his accommodation had been denied. After having his appeal denied in June, Stone is now facing involuntary discharge. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery step of this process has been incredibly frustrating for both myself and the \u2026 other service members who are currently still going through the same process,\u201d Stone told The Federalist. \u201cWe\u2019re being told that we\u2019re not fit for worldwide deployment, we\u2019re not able to support both personal unit and mission readiness standards. And that just simply isn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stone went on to describe his two years of commissioned service, noting his four worldwide deployments onboard his national security cutter, with three of them being in \u201csupport of counternarcotics efforts in the vicinity of Central and Latin America and [the] eastern Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince commissioning, I\u2019ve done this while remaining perfectly healthy, never missed a single day of work due to illness throughout the pandemic. And that\u2019s the very similar situation for a lot of the other Coast Guard service members,\u201d Stone said. \u201cMany of them are still serving in operational billets and still answering \u2026 last minute requests to fill very critical operational roles \u2026 [and] at the same time \u2026 they\u2019re being told that they\u2019re not fit for that same service that they\u2019ve been completing flawlessly and without fail throughout this whole process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a recently released report from the Pentagon\u2019s inspector general, investigators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/pentagon-rushed-deny-service-members-vaccine-religious-exemption-requests-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found<\/a> that \u201cthe military was likely too quick to deny service members religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found a trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized assessment that is required by Federal law and DoD and Military Service policies,\u201d Pentagon Inspector General Sean O\u2019Donnell wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/091622MemotoSecofDefense.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memo<\/a> sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in June. \u201cSome of the appellate decisions included documentation that demonstrated a greater consideration of facts and circumstances involved in a request.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rather than cower and accept defeat, Stone has since decided to go on offense against the country\u2019s corrupt military leadership. Last Friday, Stone, along with several other Coast Guardsmen, filed a class-action lawsuit against high-ranking military officials such as Austin and Commandant of the Coast Guard Linda Fagan for continued denial of service members\u2019 religious exemptions. <\/p>\n<p>Filed by the Thomas More Society in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the <a href=\"https:\/\/s4f4x7d5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Filed-Complaint-Stone-et-al.-v.-Mayorkas-et-al.-422-cv-825.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> alleges that Austin and Fagan \u201care trying to force Plaintiffs and more than 1,200 other Coast Guard members to submit to being injected with a COVID-19 vaccine against their sincerely held religious beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChaplains attested to the sincerity of Plaintiffs\u2019 religious objections to being vaccinated, and Defendants did not contest the sincerity of Plaintiffs\u2019 religious objections to being vaccinated,\u201d the suit reads. \u201cThis action is based upon the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, both of which protect Plaintiffs\u2019 and each Class member\u2019s fundamental right to the free exercise of their religion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also noted in the filing is how the Coast Guard has \u201cdenied virtually all of the 1,200+ religious accommodation requests\u201d filed by its service members, with the few existing \u201capproved religious accommodation requests\u201d being for those who are \u201calready slated for retirement or separation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrimarily, we argue that the mandate in the Coast Guard, both facially and as applied, violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it is a mandate that carves out numerous exceptions,\u201d said Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Stephen Crampton in an interview with The Federalist. \u201cFor example, in the Coast Guard, those participating in clinical trials are exempt from the mandate. Coast Guard auxiliarists are exempt. Inactive reserves are exempt, as well as Coast Guard dependents. All of those groups interact with Coast Guard personnel on base and elsewhere, and present, theoretically at least, the same sort of possible harms that religiously exempt folks would present. And yet, the Coast Guard allows them to carry on freely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd of course, medically exempt folks are also allowed unvaccinated access to all parts of the service, and under RFRA, the question of a substantial burden of our religious exercise rights really hasn\u2019t even been challenged by the government,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt is a requirement in order to proceed under RFRA. \u2026 But \u2026 none of our representative plaintiffs have had the sincerity of their religious beliefs challenged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the other legal arguments laid out in the lawsuit are those pertaining to natural immunity acquired through prior Covid infection, specifically how the military has refused \u201cto consider or grant medical exemptions based on natural immunity and in failing to provide an appellate review as required by mandatory Coast Guard instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During an interview with \u201c60 Minutes\u201d this past weekend, President Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/tipsheet\/leahbarkoukis\/2022\/09\/19\/biden-the-pandemic-is-over-n2613268\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared<\/a> that \u201cthe [Covid] pandemic is over,\u201d a statement Crampton says \u201cabsolutely\u201d helps their case in court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile much that is announced from the White House is almost unintelligible, in this case it was quite clear. He has proclaimed the pandemic over and I think rightfully so,\u201d Crampton said. \u201cThe question then remains, \u2018Why are these mandates continuing?\u2019 \u2026 Why are the federal employees being subjected to mask mandates and vaccine mandates? You can\u2019t have the one without the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In closing his remarks, Stone remarked how both he and the president \u201ctook an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,\u201d while highlighting how \u201ca cornerstone of [America\u2019s] constitutional guarantees is religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs an officer in the Coast Guard, \u2026 in addition to my own personal stance and faith, I do have a responsibility to represent the other Coast Guardsmen and women that serve with me, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping to do by coming forward so publicly as part of this suit,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at our first president, our first commander in chief, George Washington, I think he put it best when he wrote, \u2018When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen,\u2019 referencing the soldiers that served in the War of Independence. And I think that that quote right there very much sums up the crux of this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From an early age, Alaric Stone wanted nothing more than to serve his country in the U.S. military. Growing up as the son and great-nephew of Coast Guardsmen, Stone drew<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"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-1652526","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\/1652526","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\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1652526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652526\/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=1652526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1652526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1652526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}