u/SchoolIguana

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier recently sent a pretty aggressive letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops arguing that Catholic schools must grant religious exemptions to Florida’s vaccine requirements. He argues that, as a Catholic, he is confident Catholic teaching provides “no legitimate religious reason” for Catholic schools to deny those exemptions, and effectively asks the bishops to justify their interpretation of Catholic doctrine. He also warned that schools refusing to do so could jeopardize their eligibility for Florida’s school choice scholarship programs.

I thought this potentially raises some interesting constitutional concerns and wanted to posit it for this sub to chew on.

- Can the government threaten adverse consequences based on its own determination that a church has misinterpreted its own religious doctrine?

- The courts have generally refused to wade into religious doctrine interpretation, and granted substantial autonomy to religious organizations on matters of faith. On the other hand, if Florida law genuinely requires all participating private schools to recognize religious exemptions, is this an example of enforcing a neutral statutory requirement rather than interpreting theology?

- Does the AG’s letter amount to impermissible government entanglement with religion by deciding what Catholicism does or doesn’t require?

- Assuming the bishops refused and Florida attempted to revoke scholarship eligibility, what would be the strongest constitutional arguments on each side?

Texas’ proposed THC ban has generated a high volume of posts covering legislation, lawsuits, enforcement, business closures, political reactions, and practical questions about what it means for Texans.

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