The pair's schooling has been stopped for months, and now the family are suing the local district for religious discrimination
TWO teenage girls were expelled from school after their mum refused to have them vaccinated due to “religious beliefs”.
The New York teens, age 13 and 15, moved to the Orchard Park School District last year, and since then, their “religious exemption” had been denied, according to their mother Marina Williams.
Their schooling stopped for months as a result, and they have now reportedly been expelled indefinitely by the district.
The family now plan to take the school district to court.
The District had told the children not to return until they'd had their injections.
Williams said: “It's against our belief system for foreign substances such as vaccines to enter our bodies.
Court papers show the Williams family belong to an evangelical congregation known as the Temple of the Inner Flames Church.
Our beliefs include not taking any harmful or foreign substances into our bodies
Reverend Carol Ann Liaros
The family sent the school a letter from the Reverend of the church Carol Ann Liaros to reaffirm their stance.
Liaros is also a self-proclaimed “world renown psychic”.
“Based on our Christian biblical instructions from God, our beliefs include not taking any harmful or foreign substances into our bodies, which includes: excessive alcohol, recreational drugs, foreign substances (vaccines.)”
But in rebuttal, the school district released a statement insisting protecting the health of its students outweighs an individual's right to religious immunity.
That decision, according to New York state law, is justified, as current legislation leaves the decision of whether a parent's religious beliefs are a valid reason for exemption to the board.
The school district said, via a statement from superintendent Matthew McGarrity: “A school district has no duty more important than protecting the health, safety, and welfare of its students and staff.”
“Ensuring that the immunisation requirements under state law have been met is critical to carrying out this duty.
A school district has no duty more important than protecting the health, safety, and welfare of its students and staff
Superintendent Matthew McGarrity
"The New York State Commissioner of Education has denied a request to allow un-immunised students living in the District to attend school while they seek an exemption to the State Public Health Law requirements.
Family attorney Frank Housh said the girls had even been threatened with trespass if they returned.
He said: “This isn't a vaccination lawsuit and my client is not an anti-vaxxer.”
Housh added the family had opted against immunisations for 'generations'.
The case will be heard in the the state Supreme Court on the grounds of religious discrimination.
Erie County's Health Commissioner, Dr. Gale Burstein, told that he urges all children to get vaccinated.
She said: “Vaccines are safe, vaccines are effective, so let your doctor love your children like you love your children.”
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