Senate Bill 1218 (SB1218) is a joint resolution presented by Senator Altman, from Brevard, Orange and Seminole Counties to remove the clause, "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." Basically it is the clause that separate government and religion. It creates the wall between the two bodies that everyone expects in this democracy. It is an abiding principle of the Republic and the State of Florida and its people. We do not support one religion over another, not now, not ever, with funds from the taxpayers. The reasons are obvious, the support of religion by the taxpayers allows the taxpayers to control and dictate to religion, and it allows religion to compete for governance of the people. We also believe that no Catholic should be required to support any Protestant, a Protestant should not be required to support a Jew, and the Jewish people should not be required to support a Muslim.
But these principles are in the way of an idea, a thought, and a budget. Senator Altman, et al, find them inconvenient to their plans to reform and privatize public education. The State Supreme Court says you cannot give money to religious institutions in the form of vouchers and obviously this precept of vouchers is so important that we must abandon our principles of government to accommodate this one piece of the program. But government can't just ease a constitutional article to allow only one religion or one program to access this state money. By the will of the people governed in the United States and Florida, what is fair for one is fair for all. So if SB1218 gets passed, not only will Christian religions have access to government funds, but so will the Jewish community, Muslims, Hindus, Wiccans and even Voodoo. They will have access to the funds for schools, public relations, to build buildings for worship and any manner of other expense. The tide will have opened. We could have our funds taken by religious institutions sympathetic to terrorists organizations and find ourselves having our funds used to kill our troops.
This is why our legislators must learn to work within our Democratic principles. Yes, it is difficult, but it is supposed to be. Yes, all your programs cannot work in this environment, but they all are not supposed to work. You can't have vouchers because it violates the basic American principle of the separation of church and state. Deal with in within our principles. You just can't have it. Now let's move on. We don't change our principles for an inconvenience. They are ingrained they are what we are and we must preserve them. If you wish us to change our beliefs give us something much more than a whim or an issue. Budgets need to be balanced all the time, but not on the dissolution of our principles.
