Federal judge Steven Merryday ruled that the U.S. military was acting in bad faith with respect to religious vaccine exemptions, on the basis that "not one of the 16,643 requests for religious accommodation had been granted and hundreds had been denied at the first stage, including one denied at the appeal stage.”

The judge further stated that religious vaccine exemptions are required within the U.S. military, as constitutionally protected, namely:

“The importance of a person’s right to religious liberty, protected in the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution and the explicit implementing commands of RFRA, commends deferring the resolution of the service members’ motion for preliminary injunction pending the accumulation and reporting of additional data and the resumption—with the benefit of more complete and telling data—of the hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction.”

Judge Steven Merryday ordered the U.S. Department of Defense to provide data with respect to religious accommodation requests, approval and denial for each branch of service every 14 days starting in January, before ruling on the case.

https://lc.org/newsroom/details/112221-military-under-a-microscope-and-federal-employees-entitled-to-religious-exemption-1