Republicans Try to Delete Law Preventing State Funding of Church Schools in Florida
Republicans attempting to break down the barriers between church and state with the end game in mind of making the church the state.
A section of the Florida Constitution that bans taxpayer money from funding religious institutions could be deleted if state lawmakers who view it as discriminatory “against all people of faith” have their way.
A bill in both the House and Senate would ask Florida voters to erase a 39-word sentence from Florida’s state constitution that’s been the law since 1885. Known as the “no aid” provision or “Blaine amendment,” it states that “no revenue of the state” can be given “directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”
The sentence, like similar language in nearly 40 other state constitutions, is a stricter prohibition against the financial mixing of church and state than is found in the U.S. Constitution.
Republican lawmakers who want to strip it from the state’s document say it goes too far and leads to discrimination against religious organizations seeking to take part in publicly financed social-service programs. They also say it is rooted in anti-Catholic hatred and tainted by that bigoted history from the late 19th century.