What exemptions should exist for school vaccination requirements?

[angus]

So is Mississippi finally a Freedom State for being on the right side of this issue?

Depends upon what you consider to be the right side.  I'm in a minority here it seems, because I think that states have an obligation to educate, but also an obligation not to prohibit the exercise of one's religious beliefs.  It seems to me that the religious exemption is obviously valid.

I'm not sure exactly what "medical" or "philosophical" objections are, but I suppose that they should be taken on a case-by-case basis. 

I do think that we're becoming a very paranoid and litigious society, and the results of this poll bear that out.  I'd offer that MS and WV seem a even more paranoid than the rest, at least with regards to this issue.

[angus]

What religions have objections to vaccination as a part of their doctrine?

I was curious about this as well.  Among organized religions, I have only found two examples doing an internet search.  One is a small group of Calvinist Christians and another is a small group of orthodox Jews.  Neither group is very large so the exemption doesn't seem affected by the "herd" argument very much.  There may also be some cults not affiliated with known organized religions who also have religious rejections.  Of course my position would be the same whether the groups were large or small.  

[angus]

I don't think anybody really has a big problem with a small, insular group claiming a religious exemption...

Probably in real life a great majority of the population has no problem with religion exemptions in general, but I wasn't addressing my post to real life people.  I was addressing my post to Atlas Forum posters, 78 percent of whom are okay with "medical" exemptions ("I don't want my child to get Asperger's Syndrome") while only a few percent, about ten it appears, would allow for religious exemptions.  Still, stranger things have happened here, so I won't linger on that point.

I am not quite sure about the Amish, by the way.  A number of misconceptions exist regarding the Amish locally.  For example, it is very widely believed hereabouts that they do not pay taxes.  Like, they have some special deal with the state, federal, and county that exempts them.  It is not true, and I have posted of this before.  In fact, they pay a disproportionately large share in the county in which I live since what little they own is land, and that's what gets taxed by the school district.  Given that they never use public schools, this is a heavy burden for them.  Not that they shouldn't have to.  They live here so they pay taxes, but I don't think the vaccine exemption is even an issue for them since they don't use the public schools.  Whether they actually object to them is another matter.  I have the distinct impression that the Amish do not generally object to vaccinations on religious grounds, but I could be mistaken.  I understand that many locals do believe that Amish don't vaccinate their children, but many locals also believe a whole bunch of stuff about the Amish that is demonstrably false.