Nurses who face termination from their jobs at an Illinois hospital have filed a lawsuit against the facility for allegedly refusing to grant them religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, arguing that the move is illegal under state law. Six nurses who work at Riverside Healthcare in Kankakee, Illinois, filed a lawsuit (pdf) in the Circuit Court for the Twenty-First Circuit in Kankakee County. The nurses, who are being represented by the Liberty Justice Center, said they were told by the facility they would be fired for refusing the vaccine and were denied religious exemptions, according to a news release. “These nurses worked throughout the pandemic, putting their lives and their families’ lives on the line,” Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a news release, adding that Riverside is terminating their employment now “unless they violate their religious beliefs and their conscience” regarding vaccines. Describing …