Pray for God’s will to be done in the Trinity Lutheran case, which the Supreme Court is now deciding. Pray for churches to be able to freely partner with governmental entities in providing needed services in communities across this country.

Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”(Rev. 16:7)

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“A nineteenth century relic of the long-running, but now passé, Protestant/Catholic conflict, retooled for use by secularists against religious organizations, may be on the chopping block at the Supreme Court this spring. At issue is the fate of many so-called ‘Blaine Amendments,’ state constitutional amendments informally named after James G. Blaine, a nineteenth century Secretary of State and Republican presidential candidate in 1884, who unsuccessfully attempted to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit state aid to religious institutions. The current case involving Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri, concerns the State of Missouri’s denial to the church of an environmental award of funding to use recycled material from tires for the church’s school playground. . . .

Hannah Smith noted that the Blaine Amendments’ ‘discriminatory’ history has been detailed in a number of cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. The objective of outlining this history is to ‘protect the right of religious-based organizations and individuals to be free from religious-based exclusion’ that results from the Blaine amendments. While the Supreme Court has not declared Blaine amendments unconstitutional, it has held that, due to their anti-Catholic history, they ‘merit close scrutiny,’ Smith said. They effectively prevent religious organizations at the state and local level from ‘partnering with the government to provide essential social service to people in need.’ She said that the Becket Fund has filed numerous briefs in state and federal courts outlining the history of Blaine Amendments, their anti-Catholic origin and use, and the violence and hostile government actions perpetrated against Catholics in the nativist environment of nineteenth century America out of which the amendments emerged. A key motivation in the amendments, she said, was to ensure that the Protestant majority did not have to support, through government programs, schools or other institutions being built by the swelling Catholic immigrant populations.” (Excerpted from Juicy Ecumenism, blog by Rick Plasterer.)