Merrill Shapiro Joins Lawsuit Against Rick Scott
A Flagler County resident who heads the local branch of the State Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida and the board of trustees of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has joined a lawsuit against Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet over the offering of tax credits to parents who send their children to religious private schools.
“Our major concern is that more than 70% of the schools involved who receive students are religious schools,” said Merrill Shapiro, the former rabbi of Palm Coast’s Temple Beth Shalom and current rabbi of Temple Shalom of Deltona. “So, for example, Seventh Day Adventists, who notoriously don’t get along well with Catholics, they have to pay into the coffers for the Catholic kids to study religion in Catholic schools. Catholics are paying so that Presbyterians can learn about their religion. Mormons are paying so that Muslims can learn about their religion. Muslims are paying so that Jews can learn about their religion.”
And taxpayers who aren’t Christian, he said, have their tax dollars sent “to schools that teach children that because we are not Christians, we are going to hell.”
More: Merrill Shapiro Joins Lawsuit Against Rick Scott - the Palm Coast Observer