Sen. Lankford calls for DOD IG audit after Navy chaplain denied spiritual exemption to COVID-19 vaccine

FIRST ON FOX: Senator James Lankford, R-Okay., is demanding the appearing inspector common of the Division of Protection (DOD) audit into the company’s spiritual exemption requests for its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lankford can be sending a letter to Sean O’Donnell, the appearing DOD inspector common, requesting the audit amid reviews of a Navy chaplain and different sailors being denied a spiritual exemption.

NAVY CHAPLAIN AMONG SAILORS DENIED RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION TO COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATE: ‘KICK IN THE GUT’

“From the info factors on spiritual lodging for the COVID-19 vaccine that I’ve acquired, it’s clear that DOD leaders are ignoring the sincerely-held spiritual beliefs of service members,” Lankford wrote.

“Till a number of weeks in the past, the U.S. army had not authorised a single spiritual lodging request throughout all branches,” the senator continued. “Since then, the Division has knowledgeable me they’ve authorised twelve requests—all granted to service members who’re already planning to separate from their service—out of 1000’s of requests.”

Lankford identified that the Military “nonetheless has not granted a single everlasting spiritual lodging regardless of 1000’s of requests” and that given “DOD’s monitor file, it’s not unreasonable to presume these adjudications had been made in an try to determine an outward notion of a simply course of in response to public outrage, quite than the results of credible evaluation.”

The senator additionally referred to as DOD’s “under 0.04 %” approval fee of spiritual exemptions “stunning” and blasted the division as making “issues worse by utilizing discriminatory, boilerplate responses in denial letters.”

“Examples shared with my workplace misapply U.S. regulation and discredit the sincerity of spiritual beliefs.” the letter reads. “In a single denial reply shared by a Marine, the Commanding Officer acknowledged that requiring the COVID-19 vaccine ‘doesn’t considerably burden your sincerely held spiritual perception.’”

“Commanding Officers with no authorized or religious coaching don’t have any proper to dictate what considerably burdens a service member’s sincerely held spiritual perception. The Division has a constitutional and statutory duty to accommodate spiritual train, even train with which it disagrees or views as negligible,” Lankford wrote. “DOD doesn’t have the authorized authority to second guess the reasonableness of a spiritual perception or the service member’s evaluation of the spiritual connection between the mandate and his or her underlying perception.”

The senator additionally famous that the division’s “evasive replies, incomplete information, and continued delays have sparked appreciable outrage on Capitol Hill” and offered a litany of questions for DOD to reply, together with asking what “actions is DOD taking to make sure that army leaders who’re evaluating spiritual lodging requests” underneath federal statute “quite than the non-public views of DOD leaders.”

Lankford’s letter comes after a Navy Reserve chaplain stated earlier this month that the army is being utilized by the Biden administration as a “good little check group” that “can’t say no” after he stated he was denied a spiritual exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine.

The chaplain, who spoke with Fox Information Digital on the situation of anonymity, stated he faces doable dismissal from the Navy after almost 20 years of service resulting from his refusal to get a vaccine.

He would miss out on essential retirement pay and advantages if he’s dismissed earlier than hitting the 20-year mark.

“It’s a kick within the intestine for positive,” the chaplain stated. “If I lose retirement advantages that method, that will be a fairly vital burden to me and my household. On the identical time, it is a combat value preventing. I don’t assume it is a lawful order.”

Fox Information Digital’s Peter Hasson and Jessica Chasmar contributed reporting.