Conservative think tank Heritage Foundation published its report on the matter on Jan. 18. It found that at least 19 federal agencies kept lists of "personal religious information" on employees objecting to the vaccine mandate on religious grounds. The Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Transportation and the Department of the Treasury were some of the agencies named in the report.
"As the nation's largest employer, with over four million civilian and military employees, the federal government has received tens of thousands of religious exemption requests. It now appears that an increasing number of federal agencies are keeping and preserving those individuals' names, religious information, personally-identifying information and other data stored in lists across multiple government agencies," Heritage Foundation said.
According to the think tank, this tracking of personal religious information began at the little-known Pretrial Services Agency (PSA). The agency assists judicial officers in the District of Columbia by "gathering information about newly arrested defendants and preparing the recommendations considered by the court in deciding release options."
Just The News earlier reported that the PSA would create the Employee Religious Request Information System. According to the agency, the database was made "in response to religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the federally mandated vaccination requirement in the context of a public health emergency."
Heritage Foundation said the PSA's creation of the database "was only the most recent iteration of a disturbing trend." It added: "The Biden administration is creating lists that can all communicate with one another on which individuals have sought religious exemptions from the federal employee vaccine mandate or other religious accommodations within the scope of their employment by the government." (Related: 80 Republicans just reportedly voted to fund a federal vaccine database designed to spy on Americans.)
Tracking those with religious exemptions to vaccines an "alarming" move
A day after Heritage Foundation released its report, the Epoch Times followed up the think tank's discovery with another revelation – after its review of notices at the Federal Register. It found that aside from the 19 agencies named in the Heritage Foundation's report, an additional six agencies were tracking employees with religious exemptions to vaccines. This brings the total number of agencies involved in this surveillance to 25.
Furthermore, the Epoch Times also found that the tracking did not only encompass federal employees themselves. Contractors, consultants, interns and volunteers associated with these federal agencies are also included.
The notices in the Federal Register did not explain how long agencies plan on storing this data and why they need to keep it beyond the decision to grant or deny an employee's request for religious exemption. The agencies plan to share these lists with other offices, but they did not elaborate on the reason why.
Missouri Attorney General (AG) Eric Schmitt denounced the administration's plan in a public comment addressed to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "The Biden administration must immediately dismantle its Orwellian database. The chilling effect on a citizen's exercise of religion due to the creation of this database is alarming," he said.
The Republican AG also pointed out the scope of the data being collected from those seeking vaccine exemptions on religious rounds. "The effort to collect such a staggering amount of information on self-identified religious practitioners would be unacceptable." (Related: New bill seeks to ban federal government from creating a vaccine database.)
Schmitt concluded: "Much more could be said about this disastrous policy, but perhaps its most insidious feature is an attempt by the Biden administration to justify it on the basis of protecting citizens of this country from a virus – for their own good. We should not forget that tyrants throughout history often justify the taking of liberty under the guise of safety."
Heritage Foundation likewise concluded that "Biden may not be winning points for transparency, but he's doing his best to win first place in subjecting Americans with sincerely held religious beliefs to differential treatment."
Watch the video below of Peggy Hall talking about the federal government's plan to establish a database for those seeking religious exemptions for vaccines.
This video is from The Healthy American channel on Brighteon.com.
Visit Surveillance.news for more about the administration's monitoring of those seeking exemptions for vaccines on religious grounds.
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