Most of the troops who have seen their applications for religious exemptions from the U.S. military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate denied were deemed by a chaplain to have a “sincere belief,” which may lead a federal judge to block the mandate for them. One hundred percent of the religious exemption requests that have been denied by the Marine Corps. and the Coast Guard were based on a sincere belief, according to chaplains, branch officials said in recent court filings obtained by The Epoch Times. Approximately 92 percent of the requests denied by the Army were designated by the interviewing chaplain as being based on a sincerely held religious belief or without evidence that the applicant’s stated reasons were not sincere, according to Col. Kevin Mahoney, an official with the Office of the Army Surgeon General and U.S. Army Medical Command. The disclosures show top military officials have overruled chaplains in over …
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