WILLIAMSPORT - A federal judge rejected the contention by a former Geisinger employee that COVID-19 vaccines and tests are a hoax and employees should be allowed to work unvaccinated and untested.

U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann on Friday dismissed a suit that challenged Geisinger’s right to require testing of employees with religious exemptions.

“While cloaked in the language of religious discrimination, due process, equal protection and tortious infliction of emotional distress, [lead plaintiff Christine] Finkbeiner’s complaint makes plain that she’s after a modern-day Scopes trial,” he wrote.

Brann’s reference is to the 1925 Tennessee trial of John T. Scopes who was accused of illegally teaching human evolution.

Finkbeiner initially represented more than 100 Geisinger employees granted vaccine exemptions for religious reasons.

They sued to stop Geisinger and its affiliate facilities from requiring them to be tested twice weekly for the virus. Brann last year refused to issue an injunction to prevent the testing.

Those who refused to be tested like Finkbeiner were considered to have voluntarily resigned. Geisinger later modified the edict allowing unvaccinated employees to take paid time off.

The employees accused Geisinger of mandating the tests as punishment for those who refused to be vaccinated on religious grounds.

They disputed the health system’s claim its COVID-19 policy was implemented in part due to recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection and the state health department.

In his estimation, Brann wrote, Finkbeiner’s evidence consisted of nothing more than “a collection of distorted statements and anti-vaccine hocus-pocus.”

He pointed out each of her claims began with the same premise: COVID-19 vaccines and tests are unsafe and ineffective.

He cited her affidavit when she asked Geisinger for a second time to be exempt from testing. It stated:

“I am a Christian and hold a sincere religious belief that I have a God given right to make my own choices regarding what is good or bad for me.

“The Bible says that man has free will and I am using my free will, granted to me by God, to reject the testing conditions placed on my approved religious exemption.

She went on to claim that the certain COVID antigen testing was “toxic” and not FDA approved and “violates my sincerely held religious belief.”

Brann agreed with Geisinger’s argument that Finkbeiner’s stated beliefs about testing are medical, not religious, and cannot support a religious discrimination claim.

Her belief that she has a “God given right to make [her] own choices” would amount to a blanket privilege and a limitless excuse for avoiding all unwanted obligations, the judge wrote.

It would be a step too far to count everything Finkbeiner believes about healthy living as a religious practice, he said.

Brann rejected her contention the vaccination or test mandate was unconstitutional and that only the state Health Department and governor have the power to impose mandates, not Geisinger.

“It is not extreme and outrageous for a health system to present employees with the choice of a jab, a swab or their job,” he wrote.

It is not as if she was vaccinated or tested against her will, he said.

“There was no gun-to-the-head, needle-to-the-shoulder, or swab-to-the-nostril moment,” Brann found. “She refused and was fired.”

Following the ruling Geisinger said: “We are pleased the court has ruled in favor of keeping our patients, staff and communities as safe as possible throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.”

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