Florida may be the next state to enact a discriminatory RFRA law which critics charge gives special rights to religious groups and exercise. A leading constitutional scholar says that RFRA is "a power grab by organized religion and special interest groups."

Web Posted: May 8, 1998

he Florida Senate has unanimously passed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act and sent the bill on for the signature of Governor Lawton Chiles, following House action in April. As with other versions of the act, RFRA requires government to demonstrate a "compelling interest" before taking any action which might "burden" religious groups or exercise.

   The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was ruled unconstitutional in a 6-3 decision last summer by the U.S. Supreme Court in the historic BOERNE v. FLORES case. Since then, the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, which helped to craft the federal act, has been promoting state-RFRA legislation throughout the country.

    Despite enjoying near-unanimous support from America's religious groups, though, there have been objections raised to RFRA. In the Florida case, state Attorney General Bob Butterworth reportedly withheld his support of the act, and told the First Amendment Center's FREE web site that it might give the state's prisoners too much latitude in filing harassment lawsuits. Other states which are considering RFRA, including Michigan and Georgia, are amendment the act to exclude prison inmates or other groups.

Constitutional scholar MARCI HAMILTON charges that the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts "are nothing more than power grabs by organized religion and interest groups... It is a handout to religious persons that they have never been given before and amounts to a preference for religion that undermines...the separation of church and state."

    A deputy in Butterworth's office said that RFRA could result in inmates using religion "as a pretext for obtaining privileges or benefits that they might not otherwise be able to obtain." Marty Moore added, "What we have seen from the federal RFRA is a rise in requests by organized hate groups and groups with a propensity for violence to obtain religious exemptions." Moore cited the Aryan Nations group, a branch of the Christian Identity religion.

    Reacting to the passage of the Florida bill, constitutional scholar Marci Hamilton charged "These bills are nothing more than power grabs by organized religion and interest groups." She added that RFRA also violated the establishment clause. "It is a handout to religious persons that they have never been given before and amounts to a preference for religion that undermines... the separation of church and state."

   Other states with RFRA legislation under consideration include New Jersey, Michigan, California, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio and South Carolina.

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