On October 29, 2021, the Supreme Court denied an injunction request filed by Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group representing over 2,000 religious healthcare workers in Maine. Liberty Counsel represents the employees in a pending request for certiorari before the High Court.
Liberty Counsel filed the request for injunction in an effort to stop the firing of some health workers for refusing to violate their faith by complying with an emergency rule issued in Maine.
The Maine rule required all health employees in the state to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, by October 1, 2021, or suffer enforcement consequences, to include loss of employment.
Maine’s emergency rule permits requests for nonreligious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination, while omitting any mechanism for health workers to request vaccination exemption based on their constitutionally protected religious beliefs.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny the injunction, Liberty Counsel confirmed some workers “were terminated” from their jobs. The Court has yet to decide whether to hear the petition for certiorari being brought by the health workers.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued a statement agreeing with the Court’s decision to deny the injunction; she was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Justice Barrett argued it would be unwise for the Court to grant the “extraordinary relief” of an injunction, particularly where the health worker’s pending request for certiorari, if accepted, would be among “the first to address the questions presented.” Justice Barrett indicated that she believed a full briefing and oral arguments were necessary.
According to Liberty Counsel, “[t]he Supreme Court needs to resolve the splits in the circuits and the lower courts. Only Maine, New York, and Rhode Island have state executive orders banning employers from even considering the sincere religious beliefs of employees.”
“The requirement is constitutional,” wrote Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey in defending the state’s decision to exclude religious exemptions. Frey issued the statement following the Court’s decision to deny the injunction; he did not address the petition for certiorari being brought by Liberty Counsel on behalf of over 2,000 of Maine’s health workers.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, disagreeing with the Court’s decision to deny the injunction, issued a dissent. He was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
“Their plight is worthy of our attention,” said Justice Gorsuch, writing that Maine’s “healthcare workers who have served on the front line of a pandemic for the last 18 months are now being fired and their practices shuttered. All for adhering to their constitutionally protected religious beliefs.”
Justice Gorsuch summarized the religious objection of the health workers, explaining “that receiving the COVID-19 vaccines violates their faith because of what they view as an impermissible connection between the vaccines and the cell lines of aborted fetuses.”
“Maine has contested none of this,” wrote Justice Gorsuch, including the contention of the health workers “that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine required the use of abortion-related materials in its production, and that Moderna and Pizer relied on aborted fetal cell lines to develop their vaccines.”
Criticizing the logic of Maine’s rule, Justice Gorsuch pointed to the rule allowing those invoking nonreligious exemptions “to avoid the vaccine mandate on the apparent premise that these individuals can take alternative measures (such as the use of protective gear and regular testing),” while simultaneously refusing “to allow those invoking religious reasons to do the very same thing.”
Maine’s justifications “to deny a religious exemption,” while allowing nonreligious exemptions “borders on the irrational,” wrote Justice Gorsuch.
“This case is far from over,” said Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver.
“The High Court’s decision to not grant the emergency relief is not a ruling on the merits,” said Liberty Counsel, emphasizing that Maine’s religious health workers “should ultimately prevail on the merits” in their case.
Biblical Relevance
The dissent penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch aptly summarizes why some Christians feel compelled to refuse compliance with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
As Justice Gorsuch wrote, “The First Amendment protects the exercise of sincerely held religious beliefs.” For many Christians, their religious beliefs include an unwavering belief in the sanctity of life and commitment to maintaining a pure conscience before God.
Scripture teaches that people are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26–27). As the late Reverend Billy Graham once wrote, “The Bible places the highest value on human life. It is sacred and of inestimable worth to God, who created it ‘in His own image.’ The Bible recognizes the unborn as being fully human.”
The dissent written by Justice Gorsuch highlighted how the COVID-19 vaccines conflict with the Christian belief in the sanctity of life, specifically noting that Maine did not deny the allegation “that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine required the use of abortion-related materials in its production, and that Moderna and Pizer relied on aborted fetal cell lines to develop their vaccines.”
For many Christians, rejecting a vaccine they view as violative of the sanctity of life is necessary to maintaining a clear conscience before God. As Pastor John MacArthur writes, “Paul [the Apostle] spoke of the importance of a clear conscience (1 Timothy 3:9) and warned against anything that would defile or muddy the conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7; Titus 1:15).”
Justice Gorsuch’s dissent properly recognized the inseparability of respecting the sanctity of life and the maintaining of a clear conscience for Christians, writing that, “receiving the COVID-19 vaccines violates their faith because of what they view as an impermissible connection between the vaccines and the cell lines of aborted fetuses.”
The clash between COVID-19 mandates and constitutionally protected religious freedom has revealed, for many Christians, evidence of an increasing secularization in society. This includes a trend toward dismissing and demeaning religious values and replacing them with secular ethics.
The same day as the Court’s decision, Governor Janet Mills claimed Maine became the nation’s 4th state to achieve a fully vaccinated rate of 80 percent among eligible residents.
While touting Maine’s vaccination rate, and looking to encourage others to be vaccinated, Governor Mills implicitly appealed to the secular argument for the common good, applauding those in Maine “age 12 and older who have rolled up their sleeves to do what’s right for themselves, their neighbors, and their communities.”
Similarly, Pope Francis has appealed to secular ethics, writing that, “from the ethical point of view, the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one’s own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good.”
By employing the secular argument of the “common good,” even Pope Francis finds traction to overrule biblical values and write that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.”
As John MacArthur warns, “multitudes today respond to their conscience by attempting to suppress it, overrule it, or silence it.” The suppressing of a pure conscience, before God, is exactly what we are witnessing. Replacing biblical values with secular ethics, to justify mandating COVID-19 vaccines, is an ungodly attack on conscience and biblical truth.
“Four of the most terrifying words in the Bible are ‘God gave them over’ (Romans 1:24-28),” writes Jan Markell. The point that Markell makes is that when there is widespread rejection of God within a society, the result is a rapid increase in secularization and godlessness.
Justice Gorsuch’s dissent underscores Markell’s warning, specifically pinpointing that Maine’s rule is an example of a secular irrationality aimed at religious convictions. Maine’s decision “to deny a religious exemption,” while allowing nonreligious exemptions “borders on the irrational,” wrote Justice Gorsuch.
Now, more than ever, it is critical for Christians to stand for biblical truth and maintain their convictions. In the face of society’s increasing trend toward secularization, it is important to pray for those being forced into First Amendment legal battles, as they seek to maintain a pure conscience before God by defending their religious beliefs.
