More than 550 people of faith gathered at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church Monday to learn more about organizing against a faith-based opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

Organizers for the meeting say people of faith have been sidelined in past efforts to defeat such amendments, with campaigns opting to keep religion out of the discussion. But in Minnesota’s debate, they plan to have religious leaders front and center.

Javen Swanson, a member of Outfront Minnesota’s Faith Organizing Workgroup, said they initially had planned for a smaller group.

“When we started planning the faith organizing kickoff about six weeks ago, we thought it would be great if we could get 250 people there,” he told the Minnesota Independent. “As it turns out, around 550 people showed up and packed the sanctuary.”

Attendees heard from groups that are part of the anti-amendment coalition, including Jewish Community Action.

“The campaign isn’t just asking people of faith to help with phone banks and canvassing efforts,” Swanson said. “Rather, people of faith are being asked to figure out how they want to be involved, and to develop organizing strategies that make sense for their own communities.”

In other states, Swanson said, pro-equality campaigns did not organize people of faith effectively.

“In other states that have faced an anti-gay marriage ballot initiative, people of faith have often been kept on the sidelines, or they’ve been asked to get involved just a few months before election day,” said Swanson, “In Minnesota, people of faith have been an important part of the anti-amendment campaign from the very beginning.”

Minnesota for Marriage, the ballot campaign supporting the ban on marriage for same-sex couples, is composed exclusively of religious groups and has relied on making a faith-based case for their position.

Phillip Lowe attended the event and was impressed that the movement for marriage equality is taking a strong interest in people of faith.

“This is the first time in a campaign anywhere that they are attempting to tip the scale on the religion thing, that the anti-gay religious right alone does not have the only say in the debate,” he said. “I think we will see the left and the right side of religions engaged in this campaign. And I think in this campaign, we need them all, including those who are not religious.”

“What was very encouraging to me, was that while the religious right is trying get this passed because of how their religion defines things, the people of faith organizing [event] was about respecting differences, but at the same time coming together to work together for that one common goal.”

Swanson noted that the event did not go off without a hitch.

“The energy in the room was electric,” he said. “About a minute before we were scheduled to begin the meeting, the whole block lost power and the church went dark. We started the meeting without lights or mics and spent the next 45 minutes straining to see and hear the proceedings.”

But the power failure helped bring everyone together. “If anything, the power failure nurtured the sense of community in the room as we all waited together for light to break through the darkness. By the time the power was restored, folks were eager to get up and get organized.”

Among the donors to the Minnesota Family Council’s efforts to get a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the ballot in 2012 is a slew of churches and religious leaders. Some of the churches and pastors who have contributed to the successful seven-year campaign are opposed to homosexuality and advocate “ex-gay” therapy, a controversial faith-based type of counseling that attempts to change gays and lesbians into heterosexuals. The therapy has been condemned by most major medical associations. Among the donors are churches in Minneapolis and greater Minnesota, and, in one case, a large Minnesota financial institution.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board merely lists donors that have contributed more than $500 to lobbying groups such as MFC. The board also tracks donations to ballot campaigns such as Minnesota for Marriage (M4M), and those donations have been noted where available.

Jim Anderson, The Harbor, Hastings

Pastor Jim Anderson of The Harbor, a church in Hastings, is a financial backer of the Minnesota Family Council‘s successful lobbying campaign to put the amendment on the ballot next year. Anderson spoke out in favor of a DVD campaign released by Archbishop John Nienstedt during the 2010 election that urged Catholics to vote for candidates who oppose rights for same-sex couples.

“We stand in support of the recent efforts to protect and strengthen marriage by the Catholic Archdiocese,” said Anderson at a Minnesota Family Council event in 2010. “We agree that marriage is between one man and one woman and that the church and it’s leaders should lead the way in protecting and strengthening marriage. We call on other pastors and all Christians leaders to join us in protecting and strengthening marriage.”

Anderson is also president of Harvest Impact Ministries and a board member for the Minnesota Family Council.

In addition, Anderson gave $250 to M4M in 2005.

Steve Goold, New Hope Church, New Hope

Pastor Steve Goold of New Hope Church in the Minneapolis suburb of New Hope is also a contributor to the Minnesota Family Council’s lobbying campaign. In 2008, his church hosted Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, an organization that was recently listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Goold is strongly opposed to marriage equality. “Marriage is under great attack. As pastors of Minnesota churches and citizens of this great state, we find it necessary to voice this concern to you the citizens of Minnesota,” said Goold in a 2010 press release from the Minnesota Family Council. “We cannot state strongly enough the importance and value of marriage for the social good and the potentially dangerous ramifications of a social experiment such as legalizing same-sex marriage.”

The church also advocates that gays and lesbians can change their sexual orientation, a therapy almost all major medical associations have condemned.

A pamphlet for the church’s Release ministry describes the church’s views:

It’s easier to believe this lifestyle is merely about two loving people sharing their lives together. The truth is that homosexuality is clearly warned about in the Bible. And a closer look at the lifestyle also unmistakably reveals that it is not only sinful, but derives out of unhealthy responses to hurts and voids in a person’s life. This way of life leads people away from a loving God and His protective truth… We do not care about individuals when we endorse or ignore a lifestyle that has such high percentages of depression, alcoholism, promiscuity, sexually-transmitted diseases and drug use.

Grace Bible Chapel, Grand Rapids

Grace Bible Chapel in Grand Rapids contributed to MFC’s lobbying efforts in 2010. In 2005, the church hosted a S.O.S. “Save Our Students” seminar in Grand Rapids put on by MFC which invited attendees to “hear the reality of the gay agenda in your schools and the risks to your children.”

Pete Scharber, Marksman Metal, Rogers

Pete Scharber runs Marksman Metal in Rogers, Minn., and was a contributor to the Minnesota Family Council’s lobbying effort. He is also an organizer for the Northwest Christian Network Teams a St. Paul–based Christian network for CEOs. In its mission statement the group says it “enhances the spiritual development of today’s business leaders by facilitating an environment where practical business applications are combined with solid Biblical values.”

John Roise, Lindsay Window and Door, North Mankato

John Roise, owner of Lindsay Window and Door of North Mankato, also contributed to the lobbying campaign in 2010. Roise sits on the board of Minnesota Teen Challenge, an Assemblies of God drug treatment center that has received state and federal funding. Roise, a contributor to Rep. Michele Bachmann, took a $150,000 stimulus tax subsidy this year.

Roise is also on the board of Bethel University and the Bethel University Foundation board. Bethel tells its students not to engage in gay and lesbian relationships. From the university’s student handbook:

“The Bible also identifies character qualities and actions that should not be present in the lives of believers. For example: destructive anger, malice, rage, sexual immorality, impurity, adultery, evil desires, greed, idolatry,slander, profanity, lying, homosexual behavior, drunkenness, thievery, and dishonesty.”

He’s also a donor to Rep. Michele Bachmann and to the Republican Party of Minnesota.

Steve Hilde, Salem Lutheran Church, Osakis, and Steve Moen, Living Hope Ministries, Minneapolis

In 2004, Pastor Steve Hilde of Salem Lutheran Church in central Minnesota gave $200, as did Steve Moen of Living Hope Ministries in northeast Minneapolis.

Lutheran Community Foundation, Thrivent Financial, Minneapolis

In 2004, the Lutheran Community Foundation, a foundation of Thrivent Financial, gave $500 to the Minnesota Family Council. The foundation also gives annual grants to Focus on the Family of which MFC is affiliated. In 2009, Thrivent’s foundation gave Focus on the Family $5,774.

The Minnesota Independent will continue to analyze the funding behind the successful seven-year push by the Minnesota Family Council to get a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the ballot in 2012. Read part one in this series, on individual donors who gave the most to the campaign.

At the RightOnline Conference last month in Minneapolis, Rep. Michele Bachmann became the third Republican presidential candidate to get glitter thrown on her by the “glitterati.” The reason? Her longtime relationship with Bradlee Dean, head of the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministries. Dean’s invective towards Muslims, Democrats and especially the LGBT community has earned him notoriety in Minnesota politics, yet candidate Bachmann has yet to weigh in on her relationship with Dean. As Bachmann’s star rises in the GOP presidential field, the controversial pastor is likely to become a campaign issue in the months ahead, much the way President Barack Obama’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright was seized upon by conservative activists in 2008.

Candidate Obama’s pastor came under media scrutiny during the Democratic nominating process for some comments he made in his sermons. The attention forced Obama to speak out against his pastor and for Wright to resign from his position.

A strong friendship

While arguably not as close as Obama’s and Wright’s relationship, Bachmann and Dean’s ties date back several years. In 2005, Bachmann, then a state senator, gave Dean’s ministry a letter of endorsement after Dean sent her a copy of his comic book, “My War.”

“Your work is a testament to the struggle our youth are facing in making the right choices in the face of controversy and peer pressure,” she wrote. “I commend you on writing this book for parents and youth alike.”

She was also a guest on the Dean’s “School of Hard Knocks Roxx,” a radio show on Christian station KKMS.

The following year and just before she won her first campaign for the U.S. House, Bachmann attended a fundraiser for You Can Run (YCR) and offered a lengthy prayer in which she referenced the “last days” and plead with God to increase the ministry’s reach ten-fold. Dean’s ministry had seen criticism for doing assemblies at public schools that some say violated the Constitution for using taxpayer dollars to fund overtly Christian endeavors.

Bradlee Dean, in a press photo for his Christian rock band, Junkyard Prophet

“Lord, I thank you for what you have done at this ministry… how you are going to advance them from 260 schools a year, Lord, to 2,600 schools a year,” she said. “Lord, we ask thy faith that you would expand this ministry beyond anything the originators of this ministry could begin to think or imagine. Lord, the day is at hand! We are in the last days! The day is at hand, Lord, when your return will become nigh. Pour a double blessing, Lord, a triple blessing on this ministry.”

Bachmann would return to the ministry in 2009 as the headliner for its fundraising gala. But she appeared by video instead.

In a four-minute video message, Bachmann said, “I’d hoped to be there, but unfortunately the future that’s being forged here in Washington, DC … is one that saddles today’s youth with tremendous debt, a diminished world presence, and diminishes their God-given freedoms.”

She was in Washington preparing for her “House Call” on health care, a tea party event she and other Republican members of Congress paid for with taxpayer funds.

She praised You Can Run’s mission at YCR’s “Appeal to Heaven” gala. “It a tough job that you do, but someone has to do it. I thank God that he has given you the strength and the resolve to fight for our timeless values.”

And she reiterated her support for their work evangelizing in public schools. “We can’t overlook the outright rejection of God in the public school classroom, and the outright scorn of Christianity in our public square,” she said. “Moral relativism is exalted and faith in Christ is derided.”

Anti-gay record

Dean’s fiery preaching on his radio have garnered a lot of interest. In May 2010, he suggested that Muslim nations that execute gays and lesbians are “more moral” than American Christians.

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said during YCR’s May 15, 2010, radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”

“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”

He has called gays and lesbians predators and pedophiles. “The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”

Dean has accused Rep. Keith Ellison of trying to overthrow the U.S. Constitution and claimed that Ellison, who is Muslim, is using the homosexual agenda to bring about Sharia law. He’s said that “homosexual activists” are going after children because, he charges, one in twenty homosexuals is a child molester. He said that Obama broke the law when he appointed a lesbian to be a U.S. Marshal.

Dean has repeatedly called for gays and lesbians to be put in prison. On the radio show in 2010, Dean’s co-leader Jake McMillian praised the actions of the African nation of Malawi, which had recently arrested a gay couple for getting engaged.

“They are very conservative,” he said. “They sentence people for crimes against nature.”

Dean added, “They are very moral; they uphold the laws.”

McMillian continued, “We have got countries all over the world that are standing for what’s right and what’s wrong. In Rwanda, there’s legislation right now that repeat offenders of homosexuality will spend their life in prison.”

“Yes!” interjected Dean.

“Because they love and value life and they love and value that which God gave,” said McMillian. “And so they enforce laws against that which destroys life which again is crimes against nature.”

Near universal condemnation

Tom Emmer with YCR's Jake McMillian (right) at the 2010 GOP convention, via Facebook

While Dean has friends in religious right candidates like Bachmann, former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and GOP-endorsed 2010 gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, Dean has garnered criticism from a diverse array of interests: LGBT groups, the Muslim community, conservative churches, “ex-gay” advocates, Democrats, Republicans and independents.

It began with Dean’s remarks on his radio show in the summer of 2010 that appeared to condone the morality of Muslim nations that execute gays and lesbians. His statements sparked uproar from may quarters, even those that view homosexuality as evil.

Exodus International, a group that advocates “ex-gay” therapy, a practice that has been discredited by most major medial groups, condemned Dean’s statement.

“Using Old Testament scriptures to condemn a person to death is not ‘loving’ … it is incomplete theology and powerfully irresponsible,” wrote Randy Thomas, the group’s spokesperson, at the time. “To say that murderous actions are more ‘moral’ than tolerating free will is to completely ignore that Jesus did not call for the deaths of sinners. He died and paid the price for all of our sin, including those of us who have or do struggle with homosexuality. I pray that Mr. Dean will correct his focus and reconsider the message he is choosing to proclaim.”

Mac Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center, the church that played host to Bachmann’s famous speech where she said that God told her to run for Congress, was moved to condemn its associations with Dean as well. LWCC hosted YCR for a youth program in 2009.

“LWCC does not support financially or in any other manner, nor is an affiliate ministry of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Ministries,” the church said in a 2010 statement following Dean’s controversial statements. “Our faith community at LWCC believes it is the love of God who draws all men (people) to Him, not condemnation or judgment.”

The Minnesota Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Dean’s words as well, saying the group “strongly opposes any kind of violence or discrimination against any group,” and called on Minnesota Republicans to speak out against Dean’s statement. Few, if any, did.

“The YCR representative makes at least three outrageous and incorrect claims in the radio interview,” CAIR-MN said in a statement. “That ‘Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,’ that executing homosexuals is ‘moral,’ and that Muslims are a ‘foreign enemy.’ Statements like this show the level of ignorance and bigotry that exists in our country.”

Bradlee Dean, giving his May 20, 2011, invocation before the Minnesota House

But the peak of Dean’s time in the spotlight came in May 2011 when Republicans invited him to give the invocation before the Minnesota House.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, condemned his appearance. “Bradlee Dean has a long track record of hateful speech, and his intolerance has no place in the ‘people’s house.’ His presence sheds light on the true motivations of the anti gay marriage constitutional amendment groups. This isn’t about voter choice; it’s about systematic discrimination against a group of people.”

Republican Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers echoed those sentiments. “That type of person will never ever be allowed on this House floor again as long as I have the honor of serving as speaker,” he told his colleagues.

The Minnesota Legislature’s two openly gay and lesbian members took great offense to Dean being allowed to lead the House in prayer.

“In my 30 years in the House, I have never seen such a hateful person be allowed to deliver the opening prayer,” Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, said.

“Mr. Dean has a long and well-known record of intolerance, something that should have no place in the legislature, let alone in a prayerful blessing,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.

Others, including Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Minnesota Catholic Conference, among others, decried his prayer.

Tom Emmer

Even before the House prayer controversy, Dean’s words caused considerable stress for one man’s political campaign. Tom Emmer attended the same 2009 YCR fundraiser that Bachmann headlined, and his campaign gave funds to support the ministry.

So when Target donated $150,000 in support of Emmer’s ultimately unsuccessful gubernatorial bid last year through the Republican political action committee MN Forward, Emmer’s ties to Dean — and Dean’s stance on LGBT people — took center stage.

Groups like the Human Rights Campaign launched campaigns to pressure Target to give money to pro-gay candidates, nationwide scrutiny came to Emmer’s campaign, boycotts were initiated, and Target’s CEO ended up apologizing to company employees for the donation. Throughout the controversy, Dean’s central role was not ignored, as this illustration for SFist’s story on the relationship shows:

Image: SFist

Bachmann and Dean reunited

Still, despite Dean’s ability to stir controversy, candidate Bachmann shows no sign of distancing from him. In fact, the two will be sharing a stage at Freedom Jamboree in September, a GOP nominating event hosted by tea party activists.

Bachmann’s campaign has repeatedly refused requests for comment about her relationship with Dean and You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.

A feud between Rep. John Kriesel and Rev. John Echert of Holy Trinity/Saint Augustine Parish in South St. Paul erupted on Catholic blogs on Tuesday. Kriesel, a Republican who opposes a putting an anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot in 2012, received a letter from Echert that said the parish was launching a campaign to ban gay marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. Kriesel’s office warned the parish about violating its tax status by lobbying.

Echert sent the following to Kriesel:

Dear Representative Kriesel:
Greetings from Father John Echert, Pastor of the Parishes of Holy Trinity and St. Augustine in South St. Paul. I am writing to you specifically in regards to the proposed Marriage Amendment under consideration here in Minnesota in light of an email exchange which you recently had with my Associate Pastor, Father Robert Grabner.

Within your response you wrote, “Unfortunately I do not support the Marriage Amendment and will not be voting for it.” I am very saddened to learn this, especially since I had encouraged one of our parishioners, one of your campaign advocates, to have you come to our parish Fall Festival last October so that parishioners could meet you in the days leading up to the elections. Also, as a military Chaplain here in the Minnesota Air National Guard I have been using you as a heroic example of resiliency in our monthly Yellow Ribbon Program for recently returned deployers.

I ask you to please reconsider your position on this critical matter. While we can legitimately debate issues related to finances and politics, those that are grounded upon basic moral principles and family values are rooted in the laws of God. I am commencing this week with a parish campaign to promote support for a Marriage Amendment in Minnesota; I hope that you will be among those elected officials upon whom we can count for your efforts at the leadership level to protect traditional marriage in our state.

Sincerely,
Father John Echert

An aide to Kriesel sent back this response:

Mr. Echert,
I would like to respectfully remind you that the Internal Revenue Service frowns upon churches and religious organizations devoting time to influencing legislation. Your admission of the commencement of a politically involved “campaign” will probably violate several state and federal tax provisions.

Echert called the response “rude,” “threatening” and “outright insulting.”

“Folks, God help us if the day has come when the Church cannot speak out on moral issues,” Echert wrote in the parish’s bulletin (PDF). “If the staffer or Representative Kriesel has a mind to sic the IRS on me or our parishes here in South St. Paul, they better plan to take on the Archdiocese of St Paul, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the bishops of Minnesota and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, for that matter, for our united opposition to abortion and support for the protection of traditional marriage.”

Kriesel’s office later clarified his remarks:

Since the initial exchange, Father Echert and I have been in contact and have cleared things up. The original email was misinterpreted and we have since come to an understanding. It was never meant to be any manner of threat and no manner of disrespect was intended whatsoever.

According to the Pew Forum, churches are subject to the same lobbying restrictions as nonprofit groups. They cannot devote a substantial portion of their yearly spending on lobbying for or against legislation or ballot initiatives and the IRS generally views substantial as more than 20 percent but that also depends on a church’s total expenditures.

Conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity went after Rep. Keith Ellison in an interview Wednesday evening, criticizing the Minnesota congressman for saying Fox News has contributed to the scapegoating of Muslims.

Hannity asked Ellison about a statement he made recently: “I think if you listen to Fox News, the station 24-7 is trying to incite and divide Americans along religious lines, scapegoating the Muslim community, and this is a sort of well-worn, right-wing tactic.”

Hannity asked, “This is an incredible charge. This is a charge of bigotry. Can you give me a specific example?”

“I don’t apologize for it,” Ellison said. “If you are telling me you are going to be more even-handed on issues of religious tolerance, that’s a good step, and I thought that by inviting me here, I thought that’s what you were trying to do.”

Ellison didn’t have any specific examples available, but Media Matters did. A good example was Hannity’s criticism of Ellison for taking his oath of office on the Qur’an.

At the time Hannity said Ellison’s oath “will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones” and suggested that using the Qur’an for a swearing-in is comparable to using “Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which is the Nazi bible.”

“When you only identity terrorism and extremism with one religion, I think that’s too bad,” Ellison told Hannity. “We are at war with violent extremists who would kill Americans, they might be Muslims, they might be white supremacists, they might be people who would kill at abortion clinics. We are trying to protect Americans from any violent extremists, Muslim, Christian or Jewish, anybody.”

Watch it:

Forget Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Minnesota will play host to a religious right event in May that’ll feature two potential presidential contenders. Rep. Michele Bachmann will join Newt Gingrich next month for the Minnesota Family Council’s annual fundraising dinner in Minneapolis. The event, called “Reconnecting Faith, Family and Freedom,” will feature Gingrich’s film “Rediscovering God in America,” which was produced by Citizens United.

“There is no attack on American culture more deadly and more historically dishonest than the secular effort to drive God out of America’s public life,” says Gingrich. “‘Liberty is a gift of God,’ said Thomas Jefferson. ‘Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God?’ The Minnesota Family Council understands this and is vigorously defending our God-given freedom in our communities, schools, at the Capitol and the ballot box. Join me and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in rediscovering God and the vital role of faith and family in our American freedoms.”

The event had previously been listed as featuring Gingrich. Bachmann’s name was added late last week. It’ll be held May 17 at the Minneapolis Hilton. Tickets are $100.

On Tuesday, Minnesota Senators debated whether taxpayer funds should be used to pay for private religious school tuition as part of an omnibus tax bill. Republicans hope the proposal, which is modeled after one in Arizona and has been dubbed a “backdoor voucher” system by some, will pass constitutional muster. The U.S. Supreme Court released a decision on Arizona’s system on Monday that could boost state Republicans’ hopes, but DFLers say regardless of the measure’s constitutionality it represents the GOP’s ultimate goal of “dismantling” public education altogether.

Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Newport, introduced an amendment to the tax bill that would delete a program that allows large tax breaks for low-income families to be used for private school tuition.

“At a time that our school districts are cutting back, we need put our money into our public schools instead of putting taxpayer money into private and religious schools,” she said. (The GOP’s education budget cuts education funding in Minneapolis publich schools by $415 per student, while per-student funds would to decrease by $395 in St. Paul and $132 in Duluth.)

The program would cost $10.7 million in the next biennium. “We should be spending these precious taxpayer dollars on our public schools,” she added.

Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said, “I would hope that you would give our poorer families an opportunity to climb out [of poverty] and that you resist voting for the Sieben amendment.”

As the Minnesota Independent reported when a voucher bill was first introduced this session, taxpayer funding for religious schools in Minnesota is expressly prohibited in the Minnesota Constitution, even if the federal government has allowed it in some circumstances.

The new proposal in the tax bill takes out the voucher system and creates a tax credit.

Currently, Minnesota law allows for families to take a tax break for certain private school expenses — except for tuition. And that stood up to a Minnesota Supreme Court challenge in the mid-1990s. The current bill would change that tax break to included tuition as well as other related expenses, an issue the court has not yet taken up. But the bill stops short of a voucher system which would make direct payments to private schools.

Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, said that would present a problem. “First of all, it’s a substantial expansion of the taxpayer subsidy for private schools. Tuition is the motherload of costs,” he said, adding that many taxpayers would have a problem subsidizing another taxpayer’s decision to put their children in private schools.

“There’s a second consideration here,” said Latz. “This would constitute taxpayer funding for specific religious purposes because the vast majority of private schools are religious in nature.”

Latz said that current law allows a tax break for non-tuition expenses like textbooks or supplies because they don’t go to religious instruction. The law specifies that those expenses pay for school needs that are similar to the coursework that would be found in a public school.

Using tax credits to pay tuition at a religious school, Latz said, “That’s taxpayer dollars specifically advancing religion.”

Sen. Benjamin Kruse, R-Brooklyn Park, disagreed with Latz’s constitutional concerns.

“To the possible constitutional agreement here, we just saw yesterday in Arizona, the Supreme Court upheld a very, very similar piece of legislation so I think we are heading in the right direction with this,” he said.

That case at the Supreme Court was decided on Monday in a split 5-4 decision. The court ruled that taxpayers have no legal recourse when tax credits, as opposed to vouchers, are used to fund religious schools. Separation of church and state watchdog groups have called the tax credit strategy a “backdoor voucher program.”

“If government officials set up a program where contributions to these religious institutions are offset by a 100 percent tax credit, a taxpayer has no right to challenge that funding in court, despite the fact that it has the same result: tax dollars are going to fund religion,” Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said of the decision.

As Kruse noted, the Minnesota proposal is based on the Arizona system.

He said that the program should be passed into law. “We should keep that choice, keep those dollars in the hands of the most impoverished. It is so important to help these children get a better education, have a fighting chance to better their lives.”

He added, “These dollars are not going to the schools, these dollars are going to the families. This is a tax credit; it is not a voucher.”

It was Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, DFL-Minneapolis, who took the Republicans to the mat over education funding and the claims — like that of Sen. Kruse — that the tax credit program was to help low-income Minnesotans.

“What the majority members are telling us right now, that this is about low-income children, about minority children, I am just shocked to hear this,” she said. “I want to remind you that we cut all funding for the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is given to the lowest income Indian children in Minnesota. We also canceled all of the funding for youth summer programs in the lowest income communities in Minnesota. We cut compensatory funding for the three largest districts in the state of Minnesota where we have the highest concentration of poverty. We also cut integration which allows predominately low income children to attend school outside Minneapolis and St. Paul districts. We also cut all the funding for caregiver support that provides funding for grandparents of children who are placed in out of home placement.”

She continued, “All of this funding, members, was for poor children and you just cut this funding, so do not come to us today that you want to provide public funding for private schools to support low income children, children of color because that is just not true.”

Finally, she said, “What you are doing is taking public dollars to go to private schools because you want to dismantle public education. That’s what you want to do. Just don’t lie about it.”

Torres Ray’s statement drew protests from Republicans who complained to Senate President Michelle Fischbach that Torres Ray was out of line. Fischbach offered a tepid admonishment before moving on with the vote on the amendment, which failed largely along party lines.

The Senate then passed the omnibus tax bill with the private school tax credit attached, also along party lines.

Potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife will be in Minneapolis in May to present their film “Rediscovering God in America,” a Citizens United production. The event is hosted by the Minnesota Family Council, according to an event listing on the Newt Gingrich’s campaign website. The film recounts Gingrich’s assertion that the founding fathers envisioned a religious United States and decries secularism.

The film is produced by Citizens United, of corporate expenditure fame. The “American values” film is narrated by Gingrich along with Callista Gingrich, his third wife and former mistress. Though the film and associated book are over two years, old, the Minnesota Family Council will be bringing it to Minneapolis. In 2009, Gingrich made the assertion at a “Rediscovering God in America” event that Christians are surrounded by paganism in America. The Minneapolis event will take place on May 17 and information about the location is not yet available.

Here’s a video clip of Gingrich talking about “Rediscovering God in America.”

And here’s the official trailer for the film:

The watchdog group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State sent a letter to Minnesota Senate leadership Monday warning the chamber that Pastor Dennis Campbell‘s prayer last week was unconstitutional. Addressed to Senate President Michelle Fischbach, Majority Leader Amy Koch and Minority Leader Tom Bakk, the letter also urged the leaders to either refrain from allowing prayers in the Senate or to ensure that if it continues to do so it does in a way that respects other traditions.

The letter — which was signed by Ayesha N. Khan, Americans United’s legal director; Gregory M. Lipper, the group’s litigation counsel; and staff attorney Ian Smith — stated that numerous courts have ruled the type of prayer that Campbell gave, one that quotes Christian scripture and invokes Jesus Christ, unconstitutional.

“Pastor’s Campbell’s prayer was unconstitutional because it was sectarian and proselytizing,” the letter states. “The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution permits prayers at the beginning of legislative sessions if those prayers do not contain language or symbols specific to one religion.”

The letter, which cites reporting by the Minnesota Independent, goes on to state that several lower courts have allowed even broader leeway than the Supreme Court, and the type of prayer given by Campbell was of the sort that those lower courts have ruled against.

“Pastor Campbell’s prayer was unconstitutional even under the more permissive standard adopted by” other courts, wrote the attorneys.

The letter concluded, “Because the Senate is designed to represent all Minnesota citizens, regardless of faith, we urge you to refrain from opening future sessions with any type of prayer. If the Senate does continue open meetings with prayers, however, the Constitution requires you to ensure that they do not advance any particular religion.”

The prayer raised the ire of non-Christian senators and departed from longstanding tradition that allowed clergy from different faiths to offer prayer so long as the prayer is inclusive of all senators’ beliefs. Over the weekend, Campbell addressed those concerns, especially by Jewish lawmakers who commented, stating that he wasn’t “seeking to offend anybody but seeking to show respect for Jesus Christ, the creator, redeemer, savior and one day our judge, and we know the founders of the constitution were very supportive of Jesus Christ and the Bible.”

The letter, which appears below, echoes sentiments shared with the Minnesota Independent last week by Rob Boston, senior policy analyst at Americans United:

2011-03-21-minnesota-senate –

Controversial Pastor Dennis Campbell gave a Jesus-filled prayer on the Minnesota Senate floor on Monday on the invitation of Senate Republicans. That speech led to calls by several of the chamber’s non-Christians to ensure that prayers in the Senate are conducted in a nondenominational manner for fears of violating the state and federal constitutions. Watchdog groups say those are very real concerns.

Sen. Teri Bonoff of Minnetonka, who is Jewish, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she wants leadership to change language in the Senate rules so that the word “request” in reference to interfaith prayers in the chamber be changed to “require.”

“I’m a very religious woman and believe deeply in God,” Bonoff told the AP. “We honor God in public and our political discourse, and that’s proper. But in doing a nondenominational prayer we are honoring him without violating the separation of church and state.”

According to Rob Boston, senior policy analyst at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Campbell’s prayer came close to violating that constitutional requirement.

He told the Minnesota Independent that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Marsh v. Chambers allowed legislative prayers as long as they are non-sectarian — without expressing a particular religion.

“Some lower courts have weighed in since then, including in some cases sponsored by Americans United,” he said. “We have argued that in light of Marsh, legislative prayers must be non-sectarian.”

He said a number of lower courts have held to that standard with one exception: The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals covering Georgia, Alabama and Florida found that prayers could be sectarian so long as they don’t proselytize.

“Regardless of what the courts say, Americans United opposes official legislative prayers in all cases,” said Boston. “Government-sponsored religion inevitably has the effect of elevating one faith over others and sending the message that some citizens are second-class citizens.”

He also said that at times pastors will inject politics into something that’s supposed to be for every member of the chamber. For example, in 2009, a pastor in Kansas gave a prayer that condemned abortion.

Boston added, “In other cases, fundamentalists have protested when non-Christian prayers are offered.” He cited a prayer given be a Hindu priest on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Christian conservatives were livid that a faith they didn’t hold to was honored in Congress.

That was the case in 2001 when the Dalai Lama spoke before the Minnesota Legislature. While the Tibetan Buddhist leader did not give an invocation, his mere presence as a religious leader riled conservative Christians.

“As a Christian, I am offended that we would have the Dalai Lama come and speak to a joint meeting of our Minnesota Legislature,” said then-Rep. Arlon Lindner. “He claims to be a god-king, a leader of the Buddha religion, which historically has been considered a cult because of its anti-Biblical teachings concerning the one true Holy God, Creator of Heaven and earth and His Son, Jesus Christ.”

Boston said it’s incidents like those that create problems when prayers are offered at government functions.

“It would be best if the government got entirely out of the prayer business,” he said. “It’s not the job of the state to sponsor any form of religious worship, even a seemingly ceremonial legislative prayer. If members of the Minnesota Senate feel the need for spiritual guidance, I have no doubt that there are many members of the clergy in the Twin Cities area who would be happy to meet with them on a voluntary basis.”