R i g h t a r d i a: Capital Soup: GOP Effort to Repeal Ban on Taxpayer-Funded Religion Based on Historical Myth

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Capital Soup: GOP Effort to Repeal Ban on Taxpayer-Funded Religion Based on Historical Myth

July 12, 2011

MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union today released a report disproving the link between anti-Catholic bias and Florida’s 125-year-old constitutional ban on taxpayer funding of religious groups and activities.

The ACLU called the constitutional amendment a false claim used to justify repeal of Florida’s long-standing constitutional separation of church and state.

The “no-aid” provision of the Florida constitution bans taxpayer funding of religious institutions. This has been part of Florida’s constitution since 1885.

The Florida Constitution states:

…No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.

The report is titled Exposing the Myth of Anti-Catholic Bias: The Fabrication of History to Repeal the Florida Constitution’s No-Aid Provision."

Florida’s “no-aid” provision puts all religious faiths on equal footing. The constitutional provision also protects Floridians against compelled taxpayer support of religious institutions in violation of their religious-liberty rights.

Republicans want the “no-aid” repealed based upon a false anti-Catholic argument.

The 2011 Florida Legislative adopted a proposed constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 1471 – HJR1471) that would not only repeal the funding prohibition, but insert new language requiring taxpayers to fund religious organisations and their activities such as vouchers for church-run religious schools.

Howard Simon, Executive Director of ACLU of Florida said:

We understand why those who support taxpayer funding of mosques, synagogues and churches want to fabricate the story of historical bias, but it’s a deception designed only to get government to fund religious organisations,” said . “The Florida legislators and others who made these claims either didn’t know the truth or ignored it. But now they have shamefully stoked fears of religious discrimination and provoked religious divisions in order to gain access to taxpayer dollars.

See the complete article at http://capitalsoup.com/2011/07/12/18125/#more-18125