- A pastor encourages people to donate to their church to get signed religious exemption vaccine forms.
- Jackson Lahmeyer is also running in the Senate and giving exemption forms on his campaign website.
- Lahmeyer told The Washington Post that the form has been downloaded 30,000 times in the past two days.
Those seeking evidence of a religious vaccine exemption should look no further than Oklahoma Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, who offers members of his congregation a signed deactivation form.
But the exemption can cost you.
The Tulsa pastor encourages people to donate to their church so they can pass on their services and become an online member of the church, according to the Washington Post. Only then will his signed exemption “carry a weight,” he told the dam.
In a conversation Wednesday with Insider, Lahmeyer cited the impending federal vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 employees as a catalyst for their offer.
The legality surrounding religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines is far from uniform, with different states or organizations often requiring their own signed form. Religious freedom experts told The Post that most people don’t even need a signed letter from a religious leader to be exempt.
“It doesn’t really sell a religious exemption,” Charles Haynes, a senior member of religious freedom at the Freedom Forum in Washington, told The Post. “It’s selling a false idea that you need one.”
Lahmeyer, a 29-year-old businessman, runs the Sheridan Church in Tulsa with his wife Kendra.
In addition to presiding over a congregation and running a real estate company, Lahmeyer is also running in the Republican primaries to challenge Senator James Lankford in 2022. Earlier this year, he secured the endorsement of the former National Security Adviser. former President Donald Trump, Michael Flynn. , who was pardoned by Trump after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.
Lahmeyer distributes the exemption forms through both the church website and the Senate campaign website. He told The Post that he modeled the form after a generic Oklahoma document asking the person to explain the religious belief that requires a vaccine waiver application.
Lahmeyer said the form has already been downloaded about 30,000 in the past two days. The Washington Post article, which Lahmeyer criticized as “fake news,” helped spur another 5,000 contacts, he told Insider.
Anyone can download the form after providing contact information and Lahmeyer said he would sign it for anyone.
“I’m willing to sign it no matter what,” he told The Post. “But I want you to have weight. For you to have any weight, you have to be an online member of our church.”
According to Lahmeyer, the statutes of his church require people to broadcast religious services and donate at least $ 1 to be considered online members. The Post reported that Sheridan Church has about 300 members in person.
Mr.
The father of five told the newspaper he was not vaccinated against the coronavirus, but was not considered anti-vaccine. He said he had already had the virus and believed that people who get sick with COVID-19 can be treated with drugs such as ivermectin, an antiparasitic and dewormer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned against the use of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.
Lahmeyer said he would not investigate anyone’s reasons for requesting the religious exemption.
“What if someone says, ‘God told me not to get vaccinated.’ I don’t know if God told them that. I’m not going to argue with that,” he told The Post.