Oklahoma governor in dire need of a civics class (plus AU on separation)

Daily Kos

Oklahoma governor in dire need of a civics class

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin is upset with the Oklahoma Supreme Court for their recent ruling that the Ten Commandments monument in front of the Oklahoma capitol building should be removed. She is defying the order and has directed the Oklahoma Attorney General to appeal.

During a Q&A with the Tulsa Metro Chamber on Wednesday night, she was asked about the court's decision and her defiance of the order to remove the monument. Her response was puzzling, at best. After being asked about what she sees as the process going forward, she said:

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And I think it's also important that we have time for our legislatures, many of whom have expressed this opinion. That they like to send an amendment to our Constitution to fix any ambiguity in what the article in the Constitution that they refer to in their ruling to overturn the Ten Commandments being on the state capitol grounds. And to allow us to be able to address this issue, to send it to a vote of the people. Remove the Blaine amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution so we can resolve the issue and let the people decide. You know there are three branches of our government: the Supreme Court and the legislative branch and you have the people. The people and their ability to vote. And so I'm hoping we'll be able to address this issue in the legislative session and let the people of Oklahoma decide.

More
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/09/1400714/-Oklahoma-governor-in-dire-need-of-a-civics-class?detail=email



Refresher for those unfamiliar w/ so-called 'Blaine Amendments'

The Blaine Game | Americans United

"My argument has long been that the underlying rule about not paying for parochial schools predates the influx of Catholic immigration in the late 19th century," said Steven K. Green, former legal director for Americans United.

Green, who has researched the history of the Blaine amendment, notes that in the 1820s a dispute arose in New York City over funding of day schools. A group called the Free School Society, which ran non-sectarian schools, protested a plan by a Baptist church to open a school for poor children with public funds. The Free School Society argued that tax aid should not go to denominational schools. Legislators agreed and voted to restrict funding to non-sectarian institutions.

"The origins of the 'no-aid' rule predate by about 10 years the first drive by the Catholic Church to receive funding for its schools," observes Green, now a law professor at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon. "That does not deny the fact that the concept was sometimes used against Catholics, but the constitutional principle against funding religious institutions developed apart from anti-Catholic animus."

Green also notes that the rise of public education for the masses in the latter half of the 19th century sparked an ongoing national discussion about funding for religious institutions. As public education took hold, some states modified their constitutions to restrict funding only to public schools.

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"Part of the drive for Blaine amendments came from Republicans, who wanted to ensure that there would be universal, free and non-sectarian public education," Green said. "To try to tar the Blaine amendment solely as anti-Catholic is short-sighted. To be sure, there was some of that in the debate, but that was not the only factor."

Some political leaders of the time realized that what was called the "school problem" might be resolved by removing the "nondenominational" Protestant worship then common in public schools and making them more hospitable to Catholics. In 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant proposed a constitutional amendment that would require states to maintain a system of public schools free from sectarian influences and bar appropriations of tax aid to religious schools.

More from Americans United:
https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2002-church-state/featured/the-blaine-game