VOTE NO – FLORIDA AMENDMENT 8
DEFEND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
RESIST OBAMACARE
DEFEND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
RESIST OBAMACARE
Christians MUST NOT Trust Government Over God
"Separation of Church and State." I know of very few statements that carry so much emotion and so much misconception at the same time. Our education system stifles religious expression with this phrase. Our court systems have failed America with their rulings misapplying this phrase. Our churches have been negligent to their responsibilities because of this phrase. The culmination of all this wrong doing has led this nation down a dangerous road that, may I boldly say, our Founders never intended.
Thomas Jefferson penned this phrase on January 1, 1802, in a letter to the Danbury Baptists, assuring them that "the First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state."
His letter explained that they need not fear the establishment of a national denomination – and that while the wall of the First Amendment would protect the church from Government control – there always would be guaranteed open and free religious expression, because true religious expression of decent religious practices and true religious duties would never threaten the purpose of Government. Government would only interfere with a "religious" activity which imperiled justice, posing a direct menace to the Government or to the overall peace and good order of society.
Jefferson was making a statement that the Government has no business in the affairs of the church – period. If you take into account the very words of Jefferson it is clear that he never intended for the people's Government to attempt to eradicate every evidence or mention of God from any arena of society. The intent of the Founders was not to establish the Government as a God-free zone, but to ensure that matters of religious conscience and practice remained a Government-free zone, except where in such an anomalous case "its principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order."
Thomas Jefferson said, "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God?"
With this in mind, I must note that many states are mistakenly pushing forward legislation to remove restrictions on the use of Government funding for religious based activities or institutions. The argument in favor of such legislation claims preventing or restricting Government money to religious organizations is an expression of religious bigotry and discrimination. In some instances this may be true, but in virtually any case, the political "cure" being proposed is worse than the disease. Florida currently has this issue on their November ballot. Florida's Amendment 8, titled "Religious Freedom," is a misnomer to say the least. If this Amendment or others like it are passed they will actually be detrimental to Religious Liberty.
Amendment 8 is an effort to repeal the Blaine Amendment, a common provision in many state Constitutions. The Blaine Amendment reads in part:
"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 proposed measure would amend Section 3 of Article I of the Florida Constitution to read:
Text of Section 3: Religious Freedom
There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting or penalizing the free exercise thereof. Religious freedom shall not justify practices inconsistent with public morals, peace, or safety. No individual or entity may be discriminated against or barred from receiving funding on the basis of religious identity or belief. 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.
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Opponents of the Blaine Amendment claim that the restriction upon using Government funds for religious purposes or institutions is an attempt to discriminate against religions.The truth is the Blaine Amendment is rooted in principles dedicated to the preservation of Religious Liberty and the prevention of Government intrusion into the church.
In our ignorance, we are repeating a battle in American history that our founders already fought and settled. Shortly after the ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, several legislators, Patrick Henry being one, put forth a bill to pay Christian Teachers with tax dollars. The bill was titled,A Bill Establishing A Provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion. The purpose of this bill was to pay Christian teachers' salaries out of collected tax revenue. Patrick Henry was a great defender of Liberty and an ardent Christian. In this case, his desire to defend the faith blinded him to the dangers of inviting the Government into the church in the form of tax subsidies. Fortunately, there were other legislators present that knew the dangers of such an act, and their stand helped to clarify why good intentions can lead to dangerous destinations.
To understand why it is wrong for tax dollars to pay for religious activities, we must really think about the process as a whole. When the Government pays a person or an organization to perform a service with tax dollars, that individual or organization places themselves under the oversight of the Government, much like an employee.Since, tax dollars are not the property of the Government but of the American people, the American people cannot allow the Government to spend their money with no accountability. Therefore, regulation of Government spending of taxpayer dollars is required. So, to take tax dollars invites Government regulation, influence and control into the religious organization. In opposition to Henry's Bill, an "Association of Ministers and Delegates" wrote this response:
"No man or set of Men are entitled to exclusive or separate Emoluments or Privileges from the Community but in consideration of Public Services. (Quoting the Virginia Declaration of Rights) If, therefore, the State provides a Support for Preachers of the Gospel, and they receive it in Consideration of their Services, they must certainly when they preach, act as Officers of the State and ought to be accountable thereto for their Conduct.…"
When tax dollars are spent, the organization using those funds becomes a quasi-Government agent and thus opens itself up to Government control. The Government cannot allow the use of tax dollars in a way that will discriminate based upon criteria such as race, gender, religion, creed, etc. So if a religious organization accepts tax dollars for the performance of a service, the Government must regulate that organization's activity and prevent discriminatory practices. The organization can no longer perform its service free to the dictates of their religious convictions, but must adhere to a non-discriminatory practice as regulated and dictated by the Government. In 1776, our founders believed that taking tax dollars into the churches was paramount to the destruction of religious liberty:
"the Consequence of this is, that those whom the state employs in its Service, it has a right to regulate and dictate to; it may judge and determine who shall preach; when and where they shall preach. The mutual obligations between Preachers and Societies they belong to… must evidently be weakened – Yea, farewell to the Bill of Rights!"
There are two main problems with Amendment 8. First, proponents of Amendment 8 professes that individuals motivated by "religious convictions" often engage in the same types of services offered by the Government and therefore should be eligible for Government funding.
"WHEREAS, their religious convictions motivate some Floridians to establishreligiously affiliated schools, hospitals, adoption agencies, and other benevolent institutions that provide valuable services to society and to receive or utilize such valuable services from these benevolent providers, which could be subsidized by the state through public programs," (emphasis added)
However, the Government's benevolent services are not and cannot be motivated byreligious convictions and they cannot provide religiously affiliated services because non-discriminatory requirements will not allow it. A private organization operating on religious conviction to establish religiously affiliated services will have to check those beliefs at the door, if they want to operate using Government funding. To do otherwise would compel those who do not share those convictions to provide funding for them. This compulsion is unconstitutional and immoral.
"to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical;" Thomas Jefferson, The Virginia Actfor Establishing Religious Freedom, 1786.
By becoming funded by the Government, the original intent motivating the Floridians to action is nullified and they are no longer able to operate with religious conviction under a religious affiliation.
The second problem lies within the first. Person's acting upon "religious convictions" ought to also believe those religious convictions. To profess to operate under the conviction and direction of God and then demand the Government to provide money, is a violation of the First Commandment.
"[using tax dollars for religiously based programs] tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honors and emoluments," Thomas Jefferson, The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1786.
It tells a world of nonbelievers that even believers cannot trust God to provide for the needs of His children, and that all must rely on Government. It takes a nation that pledges to be "one nation under God" and tells the world we are actually "one nation under Government." This shameful display of lack of faith undermines the believers dependence on God, and undermines the gospel itself, declaring to the world that God is NOT sufficient to provide for our needs on earth, so how can we trust Him with eternal things?Religion not invented by human policy, must have pre-existed and been supported, before it was established by human policy. [Relying upon Government provisions serves] to weaken in those who profess this Religion a pious confidence in its innate excellence and the patronage of its Author; and to foster in those who still reject it, a suspicion that its friends are too conscious of its fallacies to trust it to its own merits. James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance,1785.
The true application of the principle of "separation of church and state" is one that was won with over 700 years of battle. This principle, that teaches that Government has no place in the church, is wrecked by the likes of Florida's Amendment 8, where Christians, themselves, beg for their own destruction. I am amazed that in light of the current battle to keep the Government out of our churches in the matter of healthcare mandates, that Christians can even consider demanding Government money for programs established upon religious convictions. Haven't we seen well enough that where the Government is invited in, it will soon run the house? How can we with clear conscience declare the Government has no right to force a religion to operate outside its conscience and provide healthcare contrary to its beliefs and with the same body demand the Government give the church money?
"Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion," Thomas Jefferson, The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1786.
It is time for Christians of all denominations to live their testimony and show the world that we serve a living God who is sufficient in both eternal AND temporal things. How else can we be not just hearers of the word but also doers?
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:24, 30, 33.
Christians, do what is right, TRUST IN GOD, and voteNO on Amendment 8.
Keep Faith,
KrisAnne Hall
Americans United for Freedom
Americans United for Freedom
KrisAnne Hall is a former prosecutor and Constitutional attorney who was fired from her job for teaching the Constitution to citizen groups. She is a disabled veteran of the US Army, a Russian linguist, a mother, a pastor's wife and a patriot. Her former employer, State Attorney for Florida's 3rd Judicial Circuit, gave her a choice – give up her First Amendment right to speak on her own time or be fired. KrisAnne said, "My First Amendment rights are worth more than a paycheck and I will not surrender them." She now travels the country and teaches the Constitution and the history that gave us our founding documents. We are proud to have KrisAnne as a contributor to Americans United for Freedom.
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