Florida Ballot Initiative Will Strip Away Religious Liberty, Says ACLU

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida joined other civil liberties, religious and education organizations in filing a lawsuit today challenging the ballot language of a proposed Florida amendment that would eliminate Florida’s ban on taxpayer funding of religious organizations and create a virtual requirement that public funds be used to support religious institutions.

“Lawmakers fabricated Florida history and deceived their colleagues to get this misleading proposal before the public,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.

Earlier this month, the ACLU issued a report refuting the erroneous argument from the amendment’s supporters that the longstanding ban is rooted in anti-Catholic bias.

“It’s clear what they really want is to force taxpayers to support churches, mosques and synagogues and re-fight Florida’s voucher wars,” Simon said. “They should have just taken those radical ideas to the public instead of disguising them in this inaccurate, misleading and phony notion of ‘religious freedom’ when what they really want is to take away your freedom to support the religion of your choice or none at all.”

"The ballot language is written to fool Floridians into approving a measure that actually strips away religious liberty protections," said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. "Florida voters have a right to know what this proposal would really mean: abandoning over 100 years of constitutional safeguards and opening the door to taxpayer funded religious discrimination and indoctrination."

More information on this lawsuit can be found at:
www.aclu.org/religion-belief/rabbi-merrill-shapiro-et-al-v-kurt-browning

Poll: Religious More Likely to Support Torture

Newser – Frequent churchgoers are more likely to support torture than their less devout brethren, a new Pew poll finds. Fifty-four percent of weekly churchgoers said torture of terror suspects is “often” or “sometimes” justified, compared to 42% of people who seldom or never attend services, reports CNN. White evangelical Protestants were especially likely to support the practice, with more than 60% behind it.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, only four in 10 supported torture, the least of any group. The survey asked whether torture against terror suspects is often, sometimes, rarely, or never justified. In total, 49% said it was often or sometimes justified, with 25% saying it was never justified. Mainline protestants—Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians—were most likely to say “never.”