Florida AG threatens to defund Catholic schools unless they loosen vaccination rules

James Uthmeier is leveraging taxpayer money to force his anti-vaccine beliefs on Catholic schools, which refuse to offer religious exemptions for required shots

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For decades now, atheists have been saying that keeping church and state separate was good for religion just as it is for the government. Here’s proof of that:

In Florida, where taxpayer dollars now freely flow to private religious schools under the guise of “school choice,” Attorney General James Uthmeier is now threatening to pull funds from Catholic schools unless they make it easier for diseases like measles to spread throughout the population.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (screenshot via X/Twitter)

On Friday, Uthmeier sent a letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops after he learned that they would not be accepting religious exemptions to their vaccine requirements for the new school year. The bishops refused such exemptions because the Catholic Church doesn’t have any formal rules against vaccines; it’s not that they’re fully supportive of them but rather they just don’t have any religious requirements against them.

Uthmeier Christ-splained all this to the bishops:

… as a Catholic, I am confident that the teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely-held religious objections of their parents. In fact, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has stated that “practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation.” Having no legitimate religious reason to refuse granting religious exemptions to the taking of abortion-derived vaccines, Catholic schools in Florida should comply with Florida law.

The issue in question is whether vaccines are derived from human fetal tissue lines, an issue that was discussed ad nauseam during the initial phases of the COVID crisis. The Vatican said in 2020 (emphasis theirs) that, “when ethically irreproachable COVID-19 vaccines are not available… it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.” In short, they say, vaccines are not “intrinsically evil.” They may be anti-abortion and falsely think life begins at conception, but the moral imperative to get vaccinated outweighs the delusions of anti-vax nutcases.

The point being: If Catholic schools want to require vaccinations to keep everyone safe, they should have every right to do that. But a Florida Republican wants to override that religious decision because he thinks he knows the religion better than the religious leaders in the state.

It’s exactly the problem that church/state separation advocates warned about. Not to mention the sort of iron-fisted rule over religion that Republicans insist we’d see if Democrats ever took over.

If Uthmeier rescinds the funding, it could impact the 88% of Florida Catholic school students who now rely on state scholarships. The Catholics have until August 7 to respond to his threat. They say they’re exploring their options.

And let’s not forget what the end result would be: If people are allowed to obtain non-medical exemptions for important vaccines, we’re going to see a rise in measles, mumps, chickenpox, polio, etc. More kids will suffer if Florida Republicans get their way because Florida Republicans don’t give a shit about your kids.

It’s not often the Catholic Church is on the side of moral decency, but pitted against conservatives, it’s barely a fair fight.

You also have to wonder why Florida Republicans are eager to alienate Catholics across the state by dictating how they should run their schools. Uthmeier wrote in a follow-up post, “If you’re a parent at one of these schools, I hope you read my letter to the bishops and start asking tough questions!”

But this is what we’ve come to expect from Republicans who are in their positions, not because they have any expertise, but because they’re professional trolls. It’s why his predecessor was Pam Bondi. It’s why his stepping stone to this position was serving as chief of staff to Ron DeSantis, not serving as a lawyer for a civil rights group or anything of substance. It’s not even the first time he’s tried to use his power to withhold money from religious schools. Last year, Uthmeier argued that two Muslim schools shouldn’t be eligible for voucher money because they were “promot[ing] Sharia law.” (They were not. He’s just racist.)

Letters From Leo also summarizes his other ethical issues:

The demand also comes from an attorney general trailing ethics questions of his own. A federal judge held Uthmeier in civil contempt in June 2025 for defying her order blocking Florida’s new immigration law. And the University of Florida — its board chaired by a top DeSantis donor — quietly put him on the payroll as a $100,000-a-year part-time law professor, the highest-paid adjunct at its law school in decades, for two hours of class a week, with no conflict-of-interest disclosure on file.

The Catholic Church is right to say children should be vaccinated before they enter school. It’s absurd for a MAGA cultist to try and override them because he cares about measles more than public health. But this is how MAGA politics works: If you take their money, you also have to accept their brand of theology. And if the bishops disagree, it’s the attorney general—not the Church—who gets the final word on what Catholic teaching supposedly requires.

The bishops shouldn’t give him an inch. If they surrender now, they’ll pay the price in the long-term when Uthmeier or the next useful tool in line makes even more demands.

There’s a lot wrong with this whole story. Taxpayers shouldn’t be bankrolling religious schools. Government officials shouldn’t be telling private religious schools how to operate. But until we can unwind the clock, it’s important for the Church to stand firm against Florida Republicans.

And every religious leader watching this spectacle should remember the lesson atheists have repeated for decades: A wall between church and state doesn’t threaten religion; it prevents politicians like Uthmeier from taking it hostage.

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