What does it say when a secular government must protect parents’ religious liberty from Catholic bishops?
Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops July 31 that Catholic schools could jeopardize their eligibility for state-funded scholarships and vouchers by denying religious exemptions from vaccination requirements.
“Ironically, they won’t offer religious exemptions as prescribed by state law,” Uthmeier wrote in an announcement of his letter to the bishops. “This is troubling and may disqualify them from state scholarships and vouchers.”
In the four-page letter to conference Executive Director Michael Sheedy, Uthmeier said he had learned that Catholic schools might refuse exemptions to parents who object to vaccines developed using cell lines derived from aborted children.
Florida law requires public and private schools to maintain students’ immunization records but expressly exempts children whose parents object in writing based on religious beliefs. The Florida Department of Health issues qualifying families a religious-exemption form that must be presented to the school.
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