I Come to Bury The 1st Amendment, Not to Praise It

 

Friends, neighbors, countrymen, we have gathered here tonight, some in opposition, and some are here to support, the warrant article which seeks to grant Sacred Heart School taxpayer money, as we have done, I am told, for over 50 years.

First, it must be said:  I know nobody here tonight who wishes anything but the best for the Church of the Miraculous Medal or its wholly owned subsidiary, the Sacred Heart School. 

Those of us in opposition come not to oppose the Church, but to embrace the Constitution.

As far as I know, Sacred Heart is a fine school and, in fact, I have personally contributed to it from my own bank account.

I know that the Church has sent its congregants here tonight, and they are honorable people, here to support their church. 

They are faithful to their Church and good citizens, too, as far as I can see. They are here tonight to stand immovably with their Church.

3 TIMES OVER

But I also know that the good townsfolk of Hampton have paid for the 60 to 65 Hampton children who attend SHS, three times over, every year. They have paid first by providing enough seats and enough teachers for these children in Center School, Marston School and the Academy. There are warm desks and teachers there, already funded, by town taxpayers ready to receive those 65 students, who would represent no more than an extra 3% to the student body.  We do not have too many, but too few children in Hampton. And the taxpayers will pay a second time for these students, by paying for the state vouchers for private school students, and the taxpayers pay a third time with this warrant article.

But the Church folk of Miraculous Medal are here tonight to support their Church. The warrant article money has been used to buy glitter crayons, molding clay, finger paint, paper crowns, and computers for the school. They support that. 

And they are good citizens.

And yet, the New Hampshire Constitution, in its Bill of Rights, article six,  says, and I quote, "But no person shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the schools of any sect or denomination. "

So this warrant article the congregants have come to vote for tonight violates the state Constitution. What the congregants are voting for is illegal, or it is illegal to the extent it violates the most basic law of the state of New Hampshire, its own Constitution. And yet the congregants are good citizens. 

These folk have come tonight to support their Church.  And who can say this is not a good thing? I know these folks consider themselves good citizens. And they consider themselves good Catholics. And who can say otherwise?

The warrant article also violates the United States Constitution, which I hope and expect the students of the Sacred Heart School have learned: Government "shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion." That is in the first sentence of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution.

And yet the folks from Miraculous Medal have come here tonight with the admirable intent of supporting their church, even if they rebuke the US Constitution. 

Who can fault that?

What does that even mean, "respecting the establishment of religion"?  Unlike the wording of our state Constitution, the US Constitution is still, apparently, open to interpretation. Our current Supreme Court, with its seven Catholic justices, supports the idea that separation of church and state is a violation of the Constitution. That is the observation of Justice Soto Mayor, herself a Catholic, and herself dismayed by recent Court decisions which have held that if a town wishes to offer any sort of support to the children of that town, then they must offer it without discrimination against children who go to religious schools, whether it's busing or playground maintenance or scholarships. The current Court has even said that where the only schools available are religious schools, as in remote parts of Maine, Maine taxpayers have to pay to send kids to those religious schools. 

But there are public schools available in Hampton. This is not rural Maine.

And in Hampton, we have gone the Court one better: We have simply voted to fund the Sacred Heart School as a special case, just like the English have done with their Anglican Church of England, which Henry VIII established when the Pope would not allow him to marry Anne Boleyn. We are not extending equal benefits to each and every child in Hampton; we are extending special benefits to the students at Sacred Heart. This is not a case of the town being sure that kids going to Sacred Heart are afforded the same benefits as kids going to public schools: This is a special tithe paid by the town to the Church of the Miraculous Medal.

And the members of the Church of the Miraculous Medal have come here tonight to support their Church and what could be wrong with that?

One could argue that the town has promised the children of Hampton an education, any education, and so if they choose to have a Catholic school education we owe them that, as matter of principle, we owe any child in Hampton the education his family deems appropriate for him or her, this argument would go.

But last year, when an amendment to the warrant article was offered to make money available to any student who wanted to go any religious school of their choice, a man rose to object, saying that might mean we'd have to pay for a school of a Church of Satan, and the amendment was immediately voted down.

So we are here tonight to vote. 

Some will vote to deny taxpayer funds for glitter crayons, computers, office supplies, books and computer services to the Sacred Heart School.  They vote to deny this without a shred of animus to the Sacred Heart School--but out of love for the Constitution, and the principle of separation of Church and state. They do this so no individual in town is forced to pay to support schools of any demonination or sect, as the state Constitution guarantees.

They do this to be good citizens.

But others are here to support their church, and who will say they are not right to do so? They want to direct funds to their church school, and they do this to support their church. 

And they are good citizens.