Will Catholics vote to re-elect an anti-Catholic president? For President Obama is surely the most openly anti-Catholic candidate for the presidency since Republican James G. Blaine in 1884. Blaine authored the “Blaine Amendment,” a proposed reworking of the religion clauses of the First Amendment that, had it been passed by the Congress and ratified by the states, would have crippled parochial education in the United States.

As it was, many states adopted their own “Blaine amendments,” which continue to this day to complicate the growth of private schools, including Catholic schools.