President Biden’s vaccination mandate threatens religious freedom in the United States, conservative commentator Dave Rubin states.
“It’s a massive threat, and it’s an absolute assault on the Constitution of the United States of America,” Rubin says. “I think what we’ve learned in the last two years is they’re gonna just keep taking and taking and taking and taking until enough people say, ‘You cannot take anymore,’ and maybe it’ll be the faith community, which is under assault in a million different ways.”
Rubin’s comments came just days after Biden announced that his administration is mandating all U.S.-based companies employing 100 people or more to ensure all their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing. Just one day ahead of the president’s announcement, United Airlines announced it will place staffers previously granted religious exemptions from the inoculation on indefinite unpaid leave.
Companies such as United, in Rubin’s view, are essentially firing their workers who have sincere religious reasons to forgo vaccination against the coronavirus. “They’re saying] your exemption due to your faith doesn’t count in this case for a disease that has a 99.9 percent recovery rate, especially if you’re otherwise healthy,” Rubin said.
There have been concerns about threats to religious liberty since the beginning of the pandemic. Last November, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued the health crisis “has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty. It pains me to say this, but, in certain quarters, religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right.”
At the height of the pandemic, churches and synagogues were restricted from holding indoor worship services. A county in Rubin’s native California even banned singing and wind instruments from being played during church service livestreams. California has been among the most restrictive states when it comes to pandemic regulations, which has, in part, led to the recall vote against Gov. Gavin Newsom, who routinely flouted the draconian measures he put in place.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
