Religious vs. Philisophical Waiver

[Amatullah0]

We are Muslim. We consider any part of a pig, and any "wet" part(i.e. blood flows through it) of an improperly slaughtered animal as "filth." Improperly slaughtered means any animal that is not slaughtered within our religious laws(similar to kosher law, but not as strict). In includes all animals except for fish and certain other sea animals. Due to it being "filth" we are not permitted to eat it, nor use it. Therefore, many vaccinations contain ingredients which are against our religious beliefs. What I am not understanding is this: Why is this not sufficient for a religious exemption? It is my understanding that this specific exemption would be considered philosophical, correct? In order to get a religious exemption, I would need to state it in other words, correct?

I live in MI(philosophical), but we're considering Illinois(religious).

I'm just not understanding why what I consider to clearly be a religious reason for refusal is not considered as such legally.

[Emmeline II]

-For a religious exemption you need to be "against the practice of vaccination". If you give your reasons to be against vaccinations as:

"I'm against vaccination because they use aborted fetal cells" - This is a philosophical reason because you are not against vaccination, just particular vaccinations.

"I'm against pre-marital sex and some vaxes are for sexually transmitted diseases." This is a philosophical reason.

Again, you have to be against the the practice of vaccination. For a more through explanation of why this is read the Wexler decision below.

You should be able to be against particular vaccine for religious or ANY reason--but you can't; unless your state has a philosophical exemption.

The Wexler Decision
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is usually best to start with a broad exemption and only provide details if the first is rejected. You can ask in the IL tribe board if there are some who have exemption experience in that state.

To whom it may concern;



(We / I) {First and Last name(s)}, as the {(parent (s) / guardian(s)} of ______________________(name of newborn child) are exercising (our/my) rights under the US Constitution, PUBLIC HEALTH LAW, ARTICLE 21. CONTROL OF ACUTE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES,TITLE VI. POLIOMYELITIS AND OTHER DISEASES, NY CLS Pub Health § 2164 (2002), to receive Religious Exemption from Vaccination, ALL injections, prophylaxis, & testing due to our genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Frazee V. Illinois Dept. of Security, 489 U.S. 829, that a religious belief is subject to protection even though no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not advocate or require such belief. This ruling is also reflected in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended Nov. 1, 1980; Part 1605.1-Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion.


Sincerely,

Your signature.
Date

[Summertime Mommy]

I don't know what state you are in, but you shouldn't have to explain why you are against vaccinations to get a religious exemption. I believe it is enough to state that your religious beliefs do not allow you to vaccinate. (FWIW, I am Muslim too and have a religious exemption, but I had never really considerred it from your angle, I got the exemption because of all the other nasties being pumped into our kids through vaccines, but that adds anoter reason to my list, no one ever asked why though)That is all we had to do, but of course our state does not accept a philosophical exemption.

[stiss]

I find it really shocking that you wouldn't be able to claim that as a religious reason for exemption.

[Amatullah0]

i'm just asking for my own understanding, really

so, my religion is philosophically opposed to vaccines. odd...

yeah, the question is just so i can wrap my head around it, if we ever find the need for a waiver, we would go with a religious exemption and being opposed to the practice of vaccination, because, well, not only is it the "safer" choice being as we are planning on moving to a state with only religious exemptions, and, well, if I think about it, my religion believes in trusting in God for every help and protection, and we can just say that includes vaccination oh, and, we don't believe in harming our children...

just thinking out loud i guess...

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Amatullah0

so, my religion is philosophically opposed to vaccines. odd...

yeah, the question is just so i can wrap my head around it, if we ever find the need for a waiver, we would go with a religious exemption

If you're going to try to craft a genuinely religious argument, there are two points you might want to be prepared to address:

1. Islam does not per se forbid vaccination. Indeed, Saudi Arabia demands proof of immunization against meningococcal meningitis for all hajj pilgrims, and they are cracking down on polio vaccination for travelers from Nigeria.

2. Mainstream Islamic jurisprudence does not consider gelatin derived from pigs to be haram.

This sort of thing is easier under a nominal assertion of Christianity, which, aside from Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Eastern Orthodoxy, does not generally have a strong juridical tradition. It seems like it could easily devolve into a game of competing fatawa in which somebody winds up the kafir.