California mega-church offers COVID vaccine 'religious exemption' in public Instagram post

Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin, which openly defied Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 shutdown orders, now plans to provide “religious exemptions” to people who want to avoid getting vaccinated.

Pastor Greg Fairrington, who has frequently thumbed his nose at Newsom from the pulpit and has endorsed the gubernatorial recall, said in a post on Instagram that the mega-church plans to hand out exemptions at services on Sunday. Newsom has been mandating vaccines for state government workers and California’s healthcare workers.

It wasn’t immediately clear what form Destiny Church’s exemptions would take, although Fairrington showed a form on the Instagram post that he said was vetted by attorneys. Church officials weren’t available for comment Friday.

Fairrington made his offer as an increasing number of employers are demanding vaccines of their workers; the city of Sacramento warned its employees Friday they could be terminated if they’re not vaccinated by Sept. 1.

Read more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article253485334.html