Edmonton university REFUSES to recognize student's religious exemption to vaccine mandate
James is a student at a local university in Edmonton, Alberta. However, because of the strict vaccine passport policy there, he is withdrawing from school barely a month into the semester. We are not naming the school or providing James' last name, at his request.
James says the COVID vaccine is in stark opposition to his deeply held religious convictions. He has concerns about the development of the vaccine and the use of fetal cell lines in the research process. James told his school that he could not in good conscience submit to a vaccine requirement, and so he went about the process of proving his deeply held religious convictions.
He contacted his pastor, who is based in Hawaii — James attends church online, and normally that sort of thing is good enough for the bureaucrats — and got his pastor to write a letter of exemption. James brought the proof of his religious objection to the school administration and then endured a bit of an inquisition, as the administrators probed his conscience for the veracity of James's beliefs. The school, in a bizarre reverse witch trial, rejected the letter from James's pastor and somehow peered into his soul to measure his sincerity.
The school determined James does not hold sincere moral objections that would exempt him from the daily campus vax carding. Instead, the school will provide no accommodation for James or students like him. Now, James is done for the year.
James provided the letter from his pastor to Rebel News as proof of his story. But the fact that James doesn't want to name the school publicly because he wants to forgive, turn the other cheek and use this ordeal to show other students that they are not alone in their moral objections, speaks to the strength of his Christian values.
Rebel News reached out to the school for comment and clarification about the vaccine passport policy, specifically in relation to how religious exemptions are honoured, and what sort of process staff and students need to engage in to prove their deeply held religious convictions. At the time of publication, the school had not responded.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.
https://twitter.com/SheilaGunnReid