Amendment 8

The Florida legislature has placed Amendment 8 on the ballot.

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution providing that no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits, funding, or other support, except as required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and deleting the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.

Proponents of the amendment claim that religious freedoms are being trampled. What they fail to mention is that if Amendment 8 is approved, the Republican-controlled Floridida legislature will be allowed to give money to religious institutions. So much for the separation between church and state. Last time I checked, Florida is a state.

There was the tax-funded Life Force Arts and Technology Academy. The legislature didn't mind given state dollars through vouchers to the school. The school provided children with a horrible education.

Opened to serve a low-income Clearwater neighborhood and advertising classes in computers and modern dance, Life Force had begun pushing Hubbard's "study technology," which critics call a Trojan horse Scientology uses to infiltrate public classrooms.

And while Life Force students and teachers worked in poorly stocked classrooms and teachers went unpaid, the bankrupt school funneled tens of thousands of dollars more to Islam's business interests than she told the bankruptcy court she would charge.

"There can be no accountability when this kind of stuff goes on," said teacher Tim Roach, who said he was fired from Life Force last month after criticizing the school. "It's the students who are going to suffer."

The First amendment grants the freedom of religion as a right. The First amendment also states that government isn't in the business of imposing religion on its citizens. Vote no on Amendment 8.