On Tuesday, a federal judge in Georgia ruled in favor of an Air Force officer seeking a religious exemption from the U.S. military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The Christian officer filed a lawsuit against the mandate, alleging that it violated his religious beliefs. U.S. District Judge Tilman E. Self III, the judge presiding over the case, agreed with his order.
The suit named Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, and Air Force Surgeon General Robert Miller, NBC News reported.
The Air Force has rejected 99.76% of all the religious accommodation requests it received from officers who did not want the shot for their beliefs, Self noted in his order. In fact, all of them had been denied until it approved nine within the last two weeks.
“With such a marked record disfavoring religious accommodation requests, the Court easily finds that the Air Force’s process to protect religious rights is both illusory and insincere,” Self wrote. “In short, it’s just ‘theater.’”
The lawsuit says the officer “sincerely believes that receiving a vaccine that was derived from or tested on aborted fetal tissue in its development would violate her conscience and is contrary to her faith.”
It also says that she believes her “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” and a “novel substance of unknown long-term effects” would violate that belief.
The officer contracted the virus naturally in December 2020 and has tested positive for having antibodies twice since then. The Air Force issued her final denial for her request for a religious exemption in December, and shortly after, she filed her lawsuit.
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The ruling from Self came a month after the suit was filed, and he wrote in it that the military’s response did not offer enough to refute the arguments that the vaccination mandate was infringing on her right to freedom of religion.
“And, how could they?” Self wrote. “Very few scenarios paint a bleaker picture than giving up your livelihood in order to follow your religious beliefs.”
Self went on to talk about what is wanted from a military force on the battlefield but also in its morals.
“All Americans, especially the Court, want our country to maintain a military force that is powerful enough to thoroughly destroy any enemy who dares to challenge it,” Self wrote in his written decision. “However, we also want a military force strong enough to respect and protect its service members’ constitutional and statutory religious rights. This ruling ensures our armed services continue to accomplish both.”
The decision from Self only applies to the officer who filed the lawsuit and not the other 99.76% of officers who had their religious exemptions denied.
An Air Force spokesperson shared a statement that the military branch is “aware of the preliminary injunction and will abide by the Court’s Order until the matter is legally resolved.”
The officer’s lawyer, Stephen Crampton, shared with NBC News that the ruling was “a great victory for religious freedom.”
“It is disgraceful how the military, in general, has disrespected fundamental First Amendment rights,” Crampton added.
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