Florida voters on November 6 will have a chance to decide on Amendment 8 -- what is being billed as a constitutional amendment for religious freedom.
Jim Frankowiak of Citizens for Religious Freedom and Non-Discrimination heads the campaign for approval of the measure. He points out that religious organizations and people of faith for many decades have provided an array of social services in Florida.
"There's an amendment to the [state] constitution that's been around since the late 1880s," Frankowiak notes. "It's been essentially dormant up until a few years ago when some out-of-state folks, the Council for Secular Humanism, decided to invoke what's called the Blaine Amendment in a lawsuit it brought against a couple of faith-based programs serving those in prison."
The Amendment 8 proponent contends the Council's lawsuit is designed to drive religion out of the public square. It has already made faith-based programs in Florida vulnerable.
"State government has spent nearly $400 million over the last two to three years for social service programs that faith-based groups have undertaken here in the state," Frankowiak accounts. "That's a pretty extensive offering, and a lot of people would be affected, so we want to preserve that partnership."
Approval of Amendment 8 would remove the constitutional obstacle, allowing the state and faith-based groups to continue working together on social services.