Why “religion” should never be an exemption to a mask mandate.

Local mom gets ordained, signs more than hundred mask exemption forms (Dayton, OH Daily News, October 8, 2021)

She got credentials through Universal Life Church (the on-line clergy mill).

Local public health officials recommend masks in school, both to avoid transmission of COVID-19 and to limit the number of students who have to quarantine when there is a COVID case. The CDC says “multi-layer cloth masks block release of exhaled respiratory particles into the environment, along with the microorganisms (viruses) these particles carry.”

But Valley View offered families pathways to medical or religious mask exemptions. On the religious side, their form required a “religious official” to submit a signed statement that “an established religious requirement exists” preventing a particular student from wearing a mask.

Grant offered to sign the forms for anyone in the community, and eventually signed for over 150 students in Valley View, as well as students in Miamisburg, Springboro and other districts.

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