News

Amid Flu Shot Debate, Court Says Veganism Could Qualify as Religious Belief

Court refuses to dismiss hospital worker’s religious discrimination case after she was fired for refusing a flu shot.

Christianity Today January 18, 2013

Recent headlines have noted the number of health workers refusing to get flu shots this year due to religious convictions. But in Ohio, chicken eggs–a little-known ingredient in manufactured flu vaccines–are causing a stir after a federal district court ruled that one vegan’s refusal to ingest animal by-products–including eggs–could qualify as a religious belief.

Sakile Chenzira filed suit against her former employer, Cinncinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, after the hospital fired her in 2010. Chenzira had refused to comply with a policy that requires employees to receive a flu vaccination on the basis of her vegan lifestyle.

According to the court, Chenzira argued that “such discharge violated her religious and philosophical convictions because she is a vegan, a person who does not ingest any animal or animal by-products, and that prior to 2010, Defendant accommodated her request to forgo the vaccine.”

The hospital attempted to dismiss Chenzira’s claim, but the court denied the motion. The judge allowed the religious claims to proceed, finding that the “plaintiff could subscribe to veganism with a sincerity equating that of traditional religious views.”

CT has regularly reported on courts, discrimination, religious freedom, philosophy and health and medicine, and recently did a cover story on food ethics and “a feast fit for the King.”

Our Latest

Ethics Aren’t Graded on a Curve

President Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden was wrong, and no amount of bad behavior from Donald Trump changes that fact.

News

UK Christians Lament Landmark Vote to Legalize Assisted Dying 

Pro-life faith leaders say Parliament’s proposed bill fails to protect the vulnerable and fear it will “create more suffering and chaos.”

Strike Up the Band: Sixpence None the Richer Goes Back on Tour

With its perennial hit “Kiss Me” still in our ears and on our playlists, the Christian band reunites with nothing to prove.

Christianity Today’s Book of the Year

Two volumes rose to the head of the class.

The Christianity Today Book Awards

Our picks for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.

The Bulletin

Matrescence with Lucy Jones

 

The Bulletin welcomes Lucy Jones for a conversation with Clarissa Moll on the neuroscience and social transformation of motherhood. 

Testimony

I Demolished My Faith for ‘My Best Life.’ It Only Led to Despair.

Queer love, polyamory, and drugs ruined me. That’s where Jesus found me.

The Book Screwtape Feared Most

Once a bedrock Christian classic, Boethius’s “Consolation of Philosophy” has been neglected for decades. It’s time for a revival.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube