A Florida court today said a proposed constitutional amendment on religion is misleading and must be rewritten before being submitted to the voters.

Judge Terry P. Lewis of the Second Judicial Circuit Court of Leon County agreed with Americans United for Separation of Church and State and other groups that had challenged  the wording of Amendment 7 as deceptive.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, “Amendment 7 is designed to eviscerate, not protect, religious liberty in Florida. We’re glad the court saw through this ruse.”

Amendment 7 is scheduled to appear on the ballot in November 2012. The measure claims to advance religious freedom but, in fact, it would repeal state constitutional safeguards that prohibit the use of public funds for religious schools and other ministries.

The measure would even require the state government to fund religious groups when it makes public funds available to non-religious organizations.

A legal challenge to the amendment’s wording was filed in July. The Shapiro v. Browning lawsuit was filed on behalf of educators and religious leaders who do not want taxpayer funds to be diverted to private schools and ministries and away from public schools and public services.

Judge Lewis agreed that the ballot’s wording is “ambiguous and misleading.”
“[W]hether affirmatively misleading or merely ambiguous as to the meaning and effect of the Amendment, it is in either event defective,” Lewis wrote.

Under Lewis’s order and Florida law, the Florida attorney general’s office must rewrite the ballot language and submit new language to the court for review within 10 days. The plaintiffs will then have 10 days to object to that language

The lead plaintiff in the case is Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, rabbi of Temple Shalom in Deltona and president of the Board of Trustees of Americans United.

In addition to Shapiro, other clergy who joined the lawsuit include the Rev. Harry Parrott of Clay County, who is a retired Baptist minister; the Rev. Harold Brockus of St. Petersburg, a retired pastor of a Pinellas Park congregation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ; the Rev. Kent Siladi of Rockledge, who is the Conference Minister for the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ; Rabbi Jack Romberg of Temple Israel in Tallahassee; and the Rev. Bobby Musengwa, who is pastor of Maximo Presbyterian Church in St. Petersburg.

Leaders in the Florida Education Association, Florida School Boards Association and Florida Association of School Administrators are also serving as plaintiffs.

Several organizations joined with Americans United in filing the lawsuit, including the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, the ACLU Foundation of Florida, the Anti-Defamation League, the Florida Education Association and the National Education Association.

Americans United Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser, in consultation with AU Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan, assisted in preparation of the legal papers in the case. Attorney Ronald G. Meyer of Meyers, Brooks, Demma and Blohm in Tallahassee is serving as lead counsel.