{"id":10979,"date":"2025-12-03T03:57:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=10979"},"modified":"2025-12-03T03:57:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:57:21","slug":"west-virginia-is-now-allowing-religious-exemptions-to-vaccine-mandates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=10979","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia Is Now Allowing Religious Exemptions to Vaccine Mandates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n              <span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In West Virginia, students are required to be vaccinated against several diseases. However, the state\u2019s Board of Education recently started allowing students to opt out of vaccination requirements for religious reasons.\n<\/p>\n<h4>This content is supported by your donations.<br \/>Give today.<\/h4>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From The Epoch Times:\n<\/p>\n<p>The board on Nov. 26 said it was suspending its policy on compulsory vaccination requirements in light of an order that day from West Virginia Circuit Judge Michael Froble.\n<\/p>\n<p>The judge wrote in a 74-page ruling that the Board of Education\u2019s previous choice to deny all requests for religious exemptions \u201csubstantially burdened Plaintiffs\u2019 religious exercise by forcing them to choose between vaccination and public education.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>While state officials have a compelling interest in protecting health, that interest can still be achieved by allowing religious exemptions, Froble said, citing how just 570 requests have been made. Those \u201cconstitute a small fraction of the statewide student population and would not meaningfully reduce vaccination rates or increase health risks,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The Times notes that state lawmakers have tried and failed to add religious exemptions to the law. After taking office in January, however, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey issued an order forcing state officials and schools to honor religious exemptions to vaccination. The state\u2019s Board of Education disagreed, prompting the lawsuit that led to Judge Froble\u2019s ruling.\n<\/p>\n<p>With this decision, West Virginia has becomes the 46th state to \u201cgrant exemptions on nonmedical grounds, primarily on religious or philosophical grounds,\u201d according to the Times. While all states grant medical exemptions to vaccines, California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York do not offer nonmedical exemptions.\n<\/p>\n<p>This is a win for religious freedom and personal liberty, as well as an answer to our prayers. Let\u2019s thank God for this decision, and let\u2019s pray that every state would come to recognize and honor religious exemptions!\n<\/p>\n<h4>Are you encouraged by this news? Share your prayers and praises below.<\/h4>\n<p>(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: twofiqu ahamed barbhuiya\/Canva Teams)<br \/>\n&#13;\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Time: 2 minutes In West Virginia, students are required to be vaccinated against several diseases. However, the state\u2019s Board of Education recently started allowing students to opt out of vaccination requirements for religious reasons. This content is supported by your donations.Give today. \u00a0 From The Epoch Times: The board on Nov. 26 said it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2518,2519,2521,91,2520,2517,2516],"class_list":{"0":"post-10979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-prayer","8":"tag-allowing","9":"tag-exemptions","10":"tag-mandates","11":"tag-religious","12":"tag-vaccine","13":"tag-virginia","14":"tag-west"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}