constitutional-law massachusetts religion animals
In Massachusetts, does my church need a permit in order to sacrifice animals?
<p>I know a while back ago, the Supreme court decided that it is unconstitutional for states to make animal sacrifice illegal.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida, forbidding the "unnecessar[y]" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption", was unconstitutional. </p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Lukumi_Babalu_Aye_v._City_of_Hialeah" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Lukumi_Babalu_Aye_v._City_of_Hialeah</a></p>

<p>But is it constitutional for states to require a permit to practice animal sacrifice? If so, does Massachusetts require my church to get a permit for animal sacrifice?</p>

<p>The same principles as articulated in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye also prohibit requiring a permit, since a permit implies the possibility of denying permission, and they cannot deny permission to practice your religion. See <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/536/150.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Watchtower Bible &amp; Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Village of Stratton</a>, 536 U.S. 150. In general, the practice of religion cannot be regulated, though of course human sacrifice can be because it follows directly from statutes against murder (there are no <em>separate</em> laws against human sacrifice for religious purposes). </p>
