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OPINION
Vaccines

Ohio mom becomes a minister in a minute, then signs religious exemptions for anti-mask families

On Sept. 3, the day after her children’s school district mandated that students wear face masks, Kristen Grant became an ordained minister.

She did this through an online site, Universal Life Church. The process takes less than a minute, I discovered. Two clicks, and I was one step away from becoming Rev. Connie. I declined.

The 37-year-old mother of four in Germantown, Ohio, said she sought the online ordination for one reason. She wanted to support anti-mask parents seeking religious exemptions for their children.

Valley View School District’s religious exemption form requires a signed statement from a “religious official.” Grant, a self-described “Constitutional Christian,” was happy to oblige.