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I want to say something about the concern over vaccine mandates popping up everywhere:

Exemptions for medical or religious reasons are REQUIRED BY LAW. There is an entire office of the federal government, The Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, dedicated to making sure you get these exemptions at your jobs.

Thinking you aren't sincere enough in your convictions is NOT grounds for denying an exemption.

Thinking your medical issue is not severe enough is NOT grounds for denying your exemption.

Thinking you're lying to get out of the mandate is NOT grounds for denying your exemption.

The ONLY legally defensible grounds for denying a medical or religious exemption is if providing one causes undue hardship on the employer. That means legally, it is not on you to prove you are religious enough or sick enough. The burden is on your employer to prove that providing your exemption causes them too much trouble.

Historically, these decisions come down in favor of the employee, especially in regards to religious exemptions. I have been hearing of people being denied religious exemptions because their beliefs are "too recent" or "not consistent enough" and I am telling you - those are NOT GROUNDS for denial.

I work for the Department of Justice. Our entire thing is enforcing laws in this country. When Biden's mandate went out, the Assistant Attorney General sent out an email, and we have gotten subsequent emails from our local office, detailing how to apply for these exemptions, including a link to the Office of EEO internal website with their entire policies and decision-making processes laid out for all to read through.

If you have been denied for an exemption, especially a religious one, you need to get details on WHY it was denied, and if it is for any reason OTHER than undue hardship on the employer, you have grounds to appeal or even sue.

Trust me, you can sue your employer and win - my father-in-law sued the federal government and won TWICE.

Stay in prayer and make sure you know the laws. Stay respectful and polite - don't get fired up, don't get snarky. Reflect Christ in all things and especially when you're being asked to compromise your convictions. I'm still waiting on the decision about my exemption. But I have confidence it will be approved after reading through the material the DoJ provided us. Private businesses should be approving the majority of exemption requests as well.