The Clause provides:
This state or a political subdivision of this state may not enact, adopt, or issue a statute, order, proclamation, decision, or rule that prohibits or limits religious services, including religious services conducted in churches, congregations, and places of worship, in this state by a religious organization established to support and serve the propagation of a sincerely held religious belief.
In Friday's Perez v. City of San Antonio, the Texas Supreme Court concluded that this provision, when it applies, "is absolute and categorical, meaning it forbids governmental prohibitions and limitations on religious services regardless of the government's interest in that limitation or how tailored the limitation is to that interest." It also concluded that it's a substantive protection, not just an antidiscrimination rule that bars "orders that treated religious services less favorably than secular activities." And it concluded that "the Clause protects not only the right to gather for religious services but also worship practices that are part of religious services."
