The Guaranteeing Religious Accommodation in Childhood Education (GRACE) Act is cosponsored by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). It was originally introduced in the House last summer as H.R. 5075 by Representative Greg Steube (R-FL-17) and is endorsed by more than fifty organizations including the Autism Action Network.
“Schools are discriminating against religious kids and targeting their families over vaccine exemptions,” said Senator Lee in a statement. “Keeping a kindergartner out of class over a vaccine is cruel – and it’s unconstitutional when the reason is their family’s religion. The GRACE Act will keep federal tax dollars out of schools that refuse religious exemptions for vaccines, and will outlaw targeting families to prove their beliefs. These schools need to learn we don’t all worship Fauci.”
If passed, the bill would protect our rights in all states, and undercut the ongoing efforts by the Democrats in Massachusetts, Hawaii and New Jersey, and potentially other states to repeal exemptions.
TAKE ACTION
Please use the panel to the right to sign a petition to your two US Senators from your state and your member of the House of Representatives urging him or her to co-sponsor and support the GRACE Act. Their contact information should appear below.
You can look up the contact information for your Senators here:
https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm
You can look up your representative here:
ISSUES
While there are currently only five states (California, New York, Maine, Connecticut and West Virginia) that forbid religious exemptions, these states account for 20% of all American children; more than 14 million children. Their families are denied the right to practice their sincerely held religious beliefs.
This is not only an issue of religious freedom, but also of parental rights, and the right to an education. Parents have the right to decide how to raise their children, which was emphasized in the recent Supreme Court decision, Mahmoud v. Taylor.
This discrimination is occurring in public, private and faith-based schools. It is also denying children the right to access extracurricular activities, special education services and summer camps. Religious freedom is not just for adults; it must also protect the most sacred and cherished members of our families – our children.
The GRACE Act will not require any state to have a religious exemption, but it will cut federal education funding to any state that denies its citizens the right to a religious exemption to vaccination.
Why is the GRACE Act Needed?
- States do not have the right to trample on religious liberty which is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
- In 2015, 48 states allowed religious exemptions.
- Since 2015, 4 states have repealed religious exemptions, and one, Mississippi, introduced religious exemptions
- The argument that religious exemptions threaten public health is preposterous. Where are the plagues that should be afflicting the 46 states that have religious exemptions?
- Proponents of the repeal bills use public health as a cover for intense and obvious hatred of faith, and people of faith who refuse to put obeying government first.
- The GRACE Act is completely consistent with federal law and the Constitution.
- If it is passed into law, it would be unthinkable for the Supreme Court to overturn a law codifying the free exercise of religion.
- The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 requires the federal government to deny funds to states or institutions that discriminate based on religion.
- Religious liberty is guaranteed at the federal level, setting a legal floor that all states must recognize.
- States health policy decisions do not override fundamental Constitutional rights.