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 oklahomablaine.org

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma, November 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Voters in Oklahoma rejected a ballot measure that would have helped autistic and other disabled children, Christian-run schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, and charities throughout the state.

State Question 790 lost 57 percent to 43 percent. The measure sought to remove a nearly 141-year-old law that disallowed the state from helping religious charitable organizations care for the disadvantaged and educate children.

Specifically, the ballot initiative sought to take the Blaine Amendment out of the Oklahoma State Constitution. The Blaine Amendment keeps state funds out of all religious charities and organizations — even if the charity is providing the highest quality services to the public.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is currently challenging the legality of several such amendments.

Despite the defeat, the Becket Fund says it will continue the fight. Senior Attorney Eric Baxter told LifeSiteNews, “We are going to keep knocking on every door until these ugly discriminatory laws are resigned to the dustbin of history.”

Blaine Amendments are named after James Blaine, who in 1875 unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution which made it illegal for the state to give financial support to any organization religiously affiliated, including Christian schools for the disabled and mentally handicapped.

While the Blaine Amendment was voted down, because of anti-Catholic sentiment many states were required to adopt similar laws designed to prohibit funding to Catholic schools in immigrant communities in order to join the Union.

U.S. law already forbade public funding for churches or for proselytizing, but the Blaine Amendment stopped any public support for religiously-affiliated service organizations, even if those organizations are providing vital social services and are the only ones doing so.  

Supporters of repealing the Blaine Amendment in Oklahoma included faith-based charities and nonprofit organizations who help the poor and disadvantaged, as well as schools founded by religious entities. Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, state Attorney General Scott Pruitt, former Governor Frank Keating, and a bipartisan majority of state legislators came out publicly in favor of repeal of the 109-year-old anti-Catholic amendment.

Leading secular organizations opposed to repeal included the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUFS), and the Satanic Temple.

The age-old law has come into modern focus because several anti-Christian groups have used it to sue the parents of disabled children and the Oklahoma Board of Education.

A lawsuit was filed against parents over a state scholarship to disabled children whose local public school couldn’t adequately meet their needs – and which actually saves the state money by eliminating the need to create programs in each local school.

The lawsuit was dismissed, but another lawsuit was filed against the Oklahoma Board of Education for the same scholarship. Atheists lost this case as well, but at such taxpayer expense that the state legislature proposed removing the Blaine Amendment.

The Blaine Amendment has also been used to successfully sue Oklahoma for the removal of a statue of the Ten Commandments from the state capitol. And in Florida, a similar Blaine Amendment was used by atheist groups to sue a successful and cost-effective ex-convict rehabilitation program.  

Removal of the Blaine Amendment would have impacted parochial schools in the state. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of school voucher programs (2002's Zelman v. Simmons-Harris), but secular groups threatened to use the state's Blaine Amendment to stop such programs.

OklahomaBlaine.org states that “removing the Oklahoma Blaine Amendment would not affect the U.S. Constitutional prohibition against taxpayer money being used to support worship services or proselytization. Religiously affiliated service providers would also still be required to follow laws ensuring they did not discriminate in the delivery of services.”

“But if it is removed, Blaine could no longer be used as an excuse to try and block taxpayer money from going to organizations that provided the best and most cost-effective services to Oklahoma residents, simply because those services are motivated by the provider's faith,” the website explains.

A video of one of the families affected by the ballot can be seen here.

Today, 37 states have some form of Blaine Amendment to their state constitution.