Editor’s note: This article is part of a Stream series on the current attacks on Religious Liberty. See the whole series here.

The Navy has received about 4,000 requests for religious accommodations for COVID-19 vaccines. They’ve denied every single request from an active duty service member that they have considered. However, they’ve granted many of the exemption requests for secular reasons, said Justin Butterfield, Deputy General Counsel at First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit public interest law firm handling the cases pro bono.

“Some of them objected to the COVID-19 vaccines’ having been developed or tested using aborted fetal cells,” explained Butterfield. “Some felt that this was not something that they could put in their bodies [consistent] with God’s plan for their bodies. And they objected to being forced to receive the vaccine because of those religious beliefs.” So, First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit on their behalf titled U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden. Judge Reed O’Connor is presiding.

Obvious Discrimination by the Navy

The discrimination was obvious. While secular exemption requests were approved, the Navy “rubber-stamped” all of the religious exemption requests. They even had a 50-step process for denying these requests. Step one? Preparing the denial template. “Congress and the Constitution require the Navy to consider each religious accommodation request on its own terms to determine whether there’s any way that they can accommodate those sailors’s religious beliefs and make an individualized determination. And the Navy just wasn’t doing that.” Not only weren’t they doing that, they were disciplining those who did not comply with the vaccine mandate.

Punished for Following Their Faith

“No service member should be punished or driven out of the military for following their faith,” said Mike Berry, Director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute, in a statement. “The purge of religious service members is not just devastating to morale but it is bringing about about a measurable reduction in readiness that harms America’s national security. It’s time for our military to honor its constitutional obligations and grant religious accommodations for service members with sincere religious objections to the vaccine.”

Religious liberty is the first freedom in the Constitution and it’s core to who America is. “And the Navy is telling these service members that their religious freedom isn’t valuable, even though the Constitution requires it of the Navy,” said Butterfield. Congress has also told the Navy that they must protect religious freedom, but the Navy is disregarding Congress’s instruction. “So, it’s important that we hold the Navy accountable to the laws of this country, to their leadership under Congress and the Constitution.

“The Navy doesn’t like that [sailors] want to adhere to their religious beliefs rather than the Navy’s demands. These sailors want to serve God. At a time like this, you shouldn’t be telling our service members that their religious beliefs are irrelevant. And ‘if you follow God, we’re going to discharge you.'”

Judge O’Connor’s Decision

Judge O’Connor Monday agreed with the SEALs and Naval Special Warfare Personnel and expanded the lawsuit to become a class-action lawsuit. He also issued an injunction that prohibits the Navy from separating those who have refused to get the vaccine based on religious beliefs. Judge O’Connor stated,

Here, the potential class members have suffered the ‘same injury,’ arising from violations of their constitutional rights. Each has submitted a religious accommodation request, and each has had his request denied, delayed, or dismissed on appeal. Exactly zero requests have been granted. And while Defendants encourage this Court to disregard the data, it is hard to imagine a more consistent display of discrimination. As previously explained in this Court’s preliminary injunction order, Plaintiffs have suffered the serious injury of infringement of their religious liberty rights under RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993] and the First Amendment.

The case is just getting started but Butterfield has hope. “We think that, at the end of the day, the evidence will show that the Navy has been trampling over service members’s religious liberty rights. And we hope that this lawsuit will correct those mistakes.”

Nancy Flory, Ph.D., is a senior editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.