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Please take a moment to read this and then forward to your email family.

S.R. 49 “FAITH BASED AMENDMENT”
Tomorrow, the Senate is likely to have a vote on the S. R. 49, “Public Funding of Social Services by religious organizations,” commonly known as the Faith Based Amendment.

The amendment reads:

“A Resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution, in a manner consistent with the United States Constitution, so as to prevent discrimination in the public funding of social services by allowing religious or sectarian organizations to receive public aid, directly or indirectly, for the provision of such services; to provide for the submission of this amendment for ratification or rejection; and for other purposes.”

S. R. 49 would do away with the Blaine Amendment that was proposed by James G. Blaine while he was Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives in 1875. The amendment passed overwhelmingly (180-7) in the House, but failed by four votes in the Senate. So attention was turned to the states to pass their own version of the amendment and many did, including Georgia. Under the guise of “separation of church and state,” these amendments were based on the premise that allocation of state tax dollars to any faith based (sectarian) institution was unconstitutional.

However, the underlying reason behind the Blaine Amendment was anti-Catholic bigotry that was a recurring theme in American politics during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In June 2000, referring to the amendment by name, Justice Clarence Thomas said “Consideration of the amendment arose at a time of pervasive hostility to the Catholic Church and to Catholics in general, and it was an open secret that ‘sectarian’ was code for ‘Catholic.’….This doctrine, born of bigotry should be buried now.”

The Governor of Georgia, a majority of our legislators, and an ecumenical coalition of libertarians, conservatives, African-Americans, Catholics, Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews all agree.

But, a simple majority in the legislature is not enough for the resolution to pass. In order for this to be on the ballot in 2006 there must be a two-thirds majority in both chambers. As of today, the Senate cannot get the majority vote that is needed to send the resolution to the House, thanks to a handful of Senators who refuse to vote for S. R. 49. It is reported this opposition is at the behest of Lt. Governor Mark Taylor who is apparently putting politics over principle regarding this amendment. If this is true, he may find it hard to explain to voters-at-large in 2006 why he is opposed to excising our state constitution of anti-Catholic bigotry, and why he chose to deny faith-based institutions the means to minister to the hungry and needy in their communities.

The Lt. Governor is joined, in his opposition to this amendment, by the ACLU, a group of scholars funded by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and others of like-minded thought.

QUICK ACTION IS NEEDED! Please call the Lt. Governor’s office at 404-656-5030 and urge him to support this resolution and to get the Democrat Senators who are in opposition to do likewise.