It’s all about the Subtext, what ISN'T said, but my local Dem friends and I all agree this is intended to hamstring any future Democratic Governor or Legislature about enacting reasonable public health measures for the NEXT pandemic, such as limiting congregation size or restricting indoor worship, etc. Steps that were key in 2020 to help flatten the curve of the original surge of COVID-19 that local area churches grudgingly agreed to.
And sadly I think this stupid Proposition #3 will pass because it is a low turnout election (no candidates, just Propositions) and people won't be thinking too deeply about this...at most it will be surface-level "yay religious freedom" and they'll foolishly vote for it. I voted against it because I can see what they (Texas Republicans) are trying to do.
And the local Texas Democratic Party organization(s) can't come out too hard against it because OMG, WHY DO YOU HATE FREEDOM OF RELIGION!? The innocuous wording sans context is infuriating.
I really hate how Texas is able to initiate these sweeping changes to the State Constitution by means of these low profile, low-voter-turnout elections that a lot of people yawn at and ignore because there are no actual candidates running, no campaign commercials, etc. It's another insidious tool for the Texas GOP to solidify their power and undermine their opponents and frustrate the popular will.
My other complaint in general about these propositions is you only get these vaguely worded summaries, not the actual text of the proposed changes so you can make a genuine informed decision...and that's just how Texas GOP'ers like it. Some of the changes sound reasonable but who has time to research this? Even the League of Women Voters ignores small-bore elections like this when there are no candidates and only propositions.
Just another one of our myriad problems undermining "small d" democracy here in Texas.