Grace and peace to you.
There are moments when people of faith are called to speak clearly, not as partisans, but as moral witnesses. Florida’s Senate Bill 1010 and House Bill 743 present such a moment. Whatever their stated intentions, these bills raise profound concerns about human dignity, moral responsibility, and the proper limits of state power.
The Christian moral tradition begins with a claim that is neither abstract nor negotiable:
“God created humankind in his image” (Genesis 1:27).
Human dignity is not earned by strength, certainty, conformity, or social approval. It is given, and therefore inviolable. It is not diminished by vulnerability, uncertainty, or suffering. On the contrary, it is precisely in moments of fragility that society bears its greatest moral responsibility.
The Reformed Catholic Church’s recently released Pastoral Letter on Human Dignity reminds us of a foundational moral truth: persons are never problems to be solved, but lives to be protected and accompanied. This principle must shape not only pastoral care, but public policy as well.
SB 1010 and HB 743 significantly expand the use of civil and criminal penalties in areas involving children, families, educators, and healthcare professionals, areas marked by deep medical, psychological, and relational complexity. When legislation relies primarily on punitive enforcement, it risks replacing discernment with fear, and care with coercion.
While moral disagreement about certain practices may exist, Christian ethics has long warned against addressing moral complexity through criminalization alone. Laws that presume punishment as their primary moral tool often fail to persuade, fail to heal, and fail to protect those most vulnerable to harm.
As the Second Vatican Council teaches in Gaudium et Spes:
“Human dignity demands that persons act according to a knowing and free choice… not driven by coercion” (GS, 17).
A society committed to human dignity must therefore ask not only what it prohibits, but how it governs, and whether its methods respect the moral agency of persons and families.
Catholic social teaching consistently affirms the primacy of the family as the first and most vital community of care. Parents, in consultation with qualified professionals, bear the primary responsibility for the well-being of their children. The role of the state is real, but limited: it exists to support families, not to displace them or govern them through fear.
The Church has also long defended the importance of professional conscience, particularly in fields that require careful ethical judgment and deep relational trust. When laws place educators, counselors, and healthcare professionals under threat for acting in good faith within their ethical responsibilities, the result is not moral clarity but moral paralysis, and often, unintended harm.
Public policy must recognize that moral formation and human flourishing cannot be engineered through enforcement alone. They require trust, prudence, and humility.
Scripture repeatedly reveals God’s particular concern for the vulnerable, not through harshness, but through mercy and restraint:
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3).
This is not sentimental language; it is a moral standard. Public policy shaped by this vision seeks first to protect life, preserve dignity, and accompany those who struggle, even amid disagreement. It resists the temptation to wield the power of the state as a blunt instrument in matters that demand patience, discernment, and care.
This reflection is not offered as a partisan intervention, but as a moral appeal rooted in a conviction shared across the Christian tradition: the measure of a just society is how it treats its most vulnerable members.
Floridians of good faith should ask whether SB 1010 and HB 743 advance that standard, or whether they risk doing lasting harm to children, families, and communities already navigating difficult terrain.
A Call to Action
Moral concern must not end with reflection.
If you share these concerns, I urge you to take concrete steps:
- Contact your Florida House and Senate members and respectfully express opposition to SB 1010 and HB 743.
- Ask legislators to consider human dignity, family integrity, and the limits of punitive law in complex moral matters.
- Share this reflection with faith communities, civic leaders, and others committed to the common good.
- Pray for wisdom, for lawmakers, for families, for professionals, and for those most affected by these policies.
Faithful citizenship requires both conviction and compassion. We can, and must, advocate for laws that reflect restraint, mercy, and respect for the dignity of every human person.
Human dignity is not a slogan.
It is a responsibility.