The COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain the already contentious boundaries of religious practice versus public policy.
In the same week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled New York may not restrict religious worship gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus, two legislators in Tennessee introduced bills that would allow parents to refuse to vaccinate their children as a “rite of conscience.”
And in Kentucky, a private religious school challenged the governor’s order closing all in-person instruction in K-12 schools. A federal appeals court upheld Gov. Andy Beshear’s order and said it can be applied to private, religious schools during the pandemic.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Beshear issued an executive order Nov. 18 requiring all private and public schools in the commonwealth not to hold in-person classes from Nov. 23 until at least Jan. 4.
Danville Christian Academy, located south of Lexington, filed suit against Beshear, a Democrat, challenging his right to restrict private schools. That suit was joined by Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, a rising star in the Republican Party and a controversial figure in the ongoing protests over the police murder of Breonna Taylor in Louisville.
The school and Cameron argued Beshear’s order violated faith-based schools’ First Amendment rights to religious freedom.
Originally, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sided with the school and the attorney general, saying the governor cannot prohibit in-person instruction at any religious, private school in Kentucky that follows “applicable social distancing and hygiene guidelines.”
Three days later, that ruling was overturned by a three-judge panel with the Cincinnati-based U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
“We are not in a position to second-guess the governor’s determination regarding the health and safety of the commonwealth at this point in time.”
That ruling stated: “As the governor explains, elementary and secondary schools pose unique problems for public health officials responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Compliance with masking and social distancing requirements is difficult to maintain, and students receiving in-person instruction must, in any event, remove their facial coverings to eat. … We are not in a position to second-guess the governor’s determination regarding the health and safety of the commonwealth at this point in time.”
Other litigation on this issue is in process in Kentucky, and the circuit court ruling could be appealed to a higher court still.
Meanwhile, in nearby Tennessee, conservative lawmakers want to change state law to remove language that currently prohibits parents from refusing to immunize their children when there is an “epidemic or immediate threat of an epidemic” or when “immunization or treatment is necessary for the protection of the health or safety of others.”
In addition to removing this explicit language regarding epidemics such as COVID-19, the proposal would add this new language: “A state agency or department shall not promulgate or enforce any rule, and a political subdivision of this state shall not promulgate, adopt, or enforce any ordinance or resolution, that requires medical examination, immunization, or treatment for those who object to the medical examination, immunization, or treatment on religious grounds or by right of conscience.”
The Associated Press reported that Rep. Jay Reedy and Sen. Mark Pody, both Republicans, are the lead sponsors of the legislation proposed in both legislative chambers simultaneously.
If adopted, the legislation would open the door for wider parental rejection of all vaccine requirements, not just COVID-19 vaccines.
Reedy told Associated Press he began working on the legislation after being contacted by Gary Humble, executive director of Tennessee Stands — a group that has challenged local and state restrictions put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Tennessee’s legislature will not convene until January, which could be after initial distribution of a new COVID-19 vaccine has begun nationwide. State health officials already are working on distribution plans.
If adopted, the legislation would open the door for wider parental rejection of all vaccine requirements, not just COVID-19 vaccines.
The state health department reported that at the end of last school year, 95% of Tennessee kindergarteners were fully immunized. But it added that there has been an increase in the number of families citing a religious exemption (allowed outside an epidemic) to avoid immunizing their children. The highest use of the exemption was reported in private religious schools.
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