Church-state divide has deep roots.

Byline: Russell Sadler For The Register-Guard

The religious groups that comprise the anti-abortion movement want the state of Oregon to sponsor license plates that sport the slogan `Choose Life.' Extra money from the sale of the plates will be funneled only to those groups that counsel adoption but oppose abortion.

The bill is modeled after a 1999 Florida law, according to its Oregon sponsors, Reps. Mac Summers, R-Molalla, and Brian Boquist, R-Dallas. Boquist said the plates would be a good way to generate money voluntarily for nonprofit groups and local agencies that promote adoption.

Boquist does not think `Choose Life' plates violate the First Amendment any more than plates supporting Oregon's Cultural Trust, salmon restoration or Crater Lake. Boquist and Summers took an oath to uphold the Oregon Constitution, but if they had read it they would not have introduced this silliness. The Oregon Constitution's Article I, Section 5, is very explicit:

`No money shall be drawn from the Treasury for the benefit of any religious or theological institution, nor shall any money be appropriated for the payment of any religious services in either house of the Legislative Assembly.'

This language has been in the Oregon Constitution since it was drafted in 1857 and ratified in 1859. It reflects a religious skepticism that has been a part of Oregon political culture since the state was formed. Here's the story:

In the early 1840s, the 800 to 900 white people in the Oregon Territory were divided into three factions in their debate over aligning with Britain or the United States.

The Rev. Jason Lee and his Methodist missionaries sought a secular government aligned with the United States. Disappointed by their failure to convert American Indians, the Methodists drifted into land speculation; a secular government would better protect property rights.

Francis Blanchet of the Roman Catholic Church presided over a flock of French-Canadian voyageurs, retired from the British Hudson Bay Company. They favored continued British rule.

The third faction was the mountain men, nominally led by Joe Meek, who supplied furs to American companies competing with the Hudson Bay Company. This faction was rather independent and really wanted no government at all.

But Blanchet and his flock were united with Meek and his mountain men in fearing that Lee would finance Methodist missions under the guise of secular government outposts. The charter of the Oregon Provisional Government permitted only voluntary taxation in order to prevent Lee from doing anything like that.

When Jesse Applegate's wagon train arrived in the fall of 1843, the Euro-American population of the Oregon Territory doubled, tipping the balance toward affiliation with the United States. The newcomers found voluntary taxation ineffective; no one was willing to be the first to step up and pay taxes.

Oregon's original constitution allowed the Legislative Assembly to levy taxes but explicitly prohibited appropriating money to benefit religious groups. Article I, Section 5, was the compromise that gained the votes for ratification in 1859. Lee was even denied the authority to hire a legislative chaplain on the public payroll!

Fast forward to 2005.

There is nothing voluntary about buying license plates. It is a tax that grants the privilege of driving on public roads. In some cases, people pay extra for plates that support legislatively approved causes. Varied as they are, all these causes are secular.

The `Choose Life' license plate movement and the nonprofits that support adoption as an alternative to abortion receive generous contributions from churches to actively promote church teachings in the secular world.

This is exactly what Blanchet's flock and Meek's mountain men feared from Lee's Methodists - tax-financed promotion of sectarian religious doctrine disguised as secular government.

Any court case testing the constitutionality of tax-financed license plates promoting adoption instead of abortion will revolve around just how closely the courts determine the money `appropriated' by the Legislature `benefits' any `religious or theological institution.' This sort of religious skepticism is as old as statehood, and is a deep-seated part of Oregon's maverick political culture.

Political commentator Russell Sadler lives in Eugene.