55 federal agencies tracking religious objection requests amid concern from conservatives By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post
As many as 55 federal departments and agencies have created 57 rule changes to keep track of employees or applicants who have sought exemptions of various kinds, including exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a Christian conservative lobbying group reports.
While some rules are limited to vaccine exemptions, others track all exemptions, such as an employee or applicant seeking accommodation from working on the Sabbath or Sunday, reports Liberty Counsel Action, the lobbying arm of the nonprofit legal organization that specializes in religious freedom cases. Some rules even track visitors to their buildings or events.
For example, the Treasury Department’s Office of Civil Rights and Diversity has stated its database will document all religious exemption requests and denials.
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The office “will track and maintain ‘information about a requestor’s religious beliefs’ as well as the ‘informal dispute resolution’ of each person,” the Liberty Counsel Action statement reads.
“It will also record ‘correspondence,’ ‘supporting notes and documentation’ and even ‘records of oral conversations,’ on every person who requests an exemption. This database will track and record this level of information for everyone from ‘pre-employment, during current or former employment or for [attendees at] a particular event.’”
While there are variations in the rules across the government agencies, the group warns that “all of them are causing serious concern about invasive privacy violations by the federal government recording and permanently storing religious and medical data on those seeking exemptions.”
The U.S. Army, for example, is going beyond recording the “religious preference” of their employees.
“The Army is pairing this religious information with biometric data, like fingerprints and digital photographs,” the watchdog reveals.
In a subsequent statement, the advocacy organization points out that a new Department of Homeland Security rule allows it to track employees, contractors, subcontractors, and certain private employees based on religious accommodations.
“The database can include personal information, audio conversations and photos — and that information can be shared with any branch of our government and even foreign nations,” the group contends.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., sent a letter signed by 10 Republican members of Congress to President Joe Biden, condemning his administration for keeping a list of federal employees who applied for a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Jan. 24 letter reads: “From day one, your administration has displayed a consistent attitude of contempt towards Americans who prioritize faith in their lives.”
