Baton Rouge, USA - Lawmakers tried last week to defuse a lawsuit that blocked state payments to two churches in northwest Louisiana by explaining that the money would be used for tutorial and anti-violence programs, not promotion of religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in August to stop the payments, which weren’t tied to certain programs in the budget bill, but to the churches themselves.
A federal judge recently blocked state government payments to Stonewall Baptist Church in Bossier City and Shreveport Christian Church, agreeing with the ACLU that the payments would violate the constitutional division between church and state because the budget didn’t say what the money would be used for. The preliminary injunction barred the money from moving from the state treasury until a trial is held.
On Oct. 25, the Legislature’s joint budget committee approved language that spells out the programs that the churches plan to use the state money for, including after-school, senior citizen, hurricane recovery and violence prevention programs.
Lawmakers said they never intended for the money to pour into church coffers but wanted to pay for education and social service programs the churches administer in their communities. John Carpenter, budget and policy officer for the state House, said he hoped the committee action would end the ACLU lawsuit.
“Hopefully, this will help the ACLU to be comfortable and to hopefully dismiss the suit,” Carpenter told the budget committee, which approved the changes without objection.
The ACLU didn’t return a call seeking comment in time for this story.
Carpenter said the lawsuit also was amended to include four other churches slated to receive state dollars and two non-profit groups that the ACLU believed might be church organizations.
Lawmakers had agreed to send $290,000 to the six churches. They were among the hundreds of legislative add-ons to the state’s annual budget bill during the last legislative session. The ACLU had asked Gov. Kathleen Blanco in June to veto them; she left them in when she signed the budget bill in July.
“These clear it up that these aren’t going to churches. They’re going to after-school programs and senior programs,” said Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, chairman of the budget committee, before the language changes were approved.