[Poohbah]

And let's not forget, Gibson is not just a Christian, but a Catholic, the only religious group I know of that has been discriminated against by the gov't in the US (via the Blaine amendments).

This post is not a flame. I am a Catholic.

1. Re: the Catholics being the oly religion discriminated against by the US Government: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could disagree with you with some justification. Please note the history of Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City: it was built specifically to ensure that the FedGov could bombard the s**t outta the Mormon Tabernacle if the Mormons ever got uppity.

2. What are the Blaine Amendments?

[radiohead]

I didn't know what the Blaine amendments were either, so I looked it up:

http://www.blaineamendments.org/Intro/whatis.html

"Blaine Amendments are provisions in many state constitutions that prohibit the use of state funds at "sectarian" schools. They're named for James G. Blaine, who proposed such an amendment to the U.S. Constitution while he was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1875.
...
Until recently, it has not been widely known that Blaine Amendments were passed as a direct result of the nativist, anti-Catholic bigotry that was a recurring theme in American politics during the 19th and early 20th centuries."

[jocon307]

Ack, you are right, I forgot about the Mormons.

As for the Blaine Amendments they are features of many (several, a bunch, not sure how many) STATE constitutions. They forbid the State govs from funding religion in any way and were largely enacted during the isolationist, anti-Catholic "Know-nothing" party days. They were adopted to undermine Roman Catholic education, which was primarily of the children of immigrants.

I believe that the very recent Supreme Court decision where it found that Wash. State was permitted to deny a state Scholarship to a student who wished to pursue a degree in Ministry was based on the presence of such an amendment in the Wash. State constitution.

Obviously the Blaine Amendments don't specify the Roman Catholic faith, that was a bit of hyperbole on my part.