protective of religious exercise as, or more protective of religious exercise than, this Act. (h) Severability If any provision of this Act or an amendment made by this Act, or any application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provision to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected. 7. Establishment clause unaffected Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect, interpret, or in any way address that portion of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion (referred to in this section as the Establishment Clause ). Granting government funding, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this Act. In this section, the term granting , used with respect to government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does not include the denial of government funding, benefits, or exemptions. 8. Applicability This Act applies to any COVID–19 vaccine mandate, whether adopted before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.