A nurse of 25 years with a sincere and devout religious objection to the COVID-19 vaccine who also has contracted and recovered from the virus was declined an exemption and subsequently fired from his position over his refusal to get the jab.
”I refused to get vaccinated and tried to reason with them — I tried to apply for a religious exemption, because it is legitimately a violation of my conscience,” he recently told Faithwire. “I didn’t want to go with what I thought was mob thinking, groupthink, and over-simplification by the CDC.”
Michael Murray of Langhorne, Pennsylvania says that he was fired from St. Mary’s Medical Center, part of Trinity Health, on December 6 after his employers declined to grant him a religious exemption.
He cites his “God-given” immunity as well as an objection to being forced to take the vaccine, which he describes as “a violation of my conscience and, really, basic common sense.”
He says that several far less devout co-workers were granted exemptions, which gave him the impression that his firing was “arbitrary.”
Murray also happens to be the pastor of a small local parish, which he believes had something to do with the unfair treatment he experienced from his employers.
“Everybody knew I was a pastor and everybody knew I was denied my religious exemption and other people, other co-workers that really no one would think had any religious background at all, they were given their religious exemption,” he says. “So it was just very random and arbitrary and weird.”
Millions more Americans could soon be faced with the same difficult decision that many healthcare workers have been faced with as on Friday, President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for private employers was allowed to move forward by a U.S. appeals court. The controversial mandate is likely to head to the Supreme Court, as Biden administration mandates for federal contractors and healthcare workers at facilities that receive federal funding are still being litigated and have been placed on hold.
Murray offers inspiring words for those faced with an uncertain future thanks to these requirements, for whom he says he “feels deeply” and understands their plight.
“I trust that the Lord will provide,” he told Faithwire. “I have been trying to pursue legal action for a wrongful termination lawsuit, but the few lawyers I have contacted have not been interested in taking my case. So I am inquiring about some other lawyers.”
“And I understand many people with my views about this just caved in and went ahead and got the [vaccine] and I don’t fault them too much for that. Everyone’s telling them that it’s OK and, for most people, I don’t think it does cause any physical harm, for the vast majority of people. … But it’s always good advice to trust in the Lord,” he said.
”If it is a violation of your conscience and you want to stand up for it,” the veteran healthcare worker added, “we should trust in the Lord and God is faithful to provide for us.”
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