It has been circulating around the internet for the last couple of days that the stimulus bill, among other things, has provisions in it that would forbid money to be used for renovations of buildings and structures that organizations of any sort of religious activity going on in them.
Both versions of the bill, the House version (H.R. 1) that passed on Jan. 28 by a 244-188 margin, without a single Republican vote, and the Senate version (S. 336), which will probably be voted on in the next few days – include language that would “prohibit†modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities:
- used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or
- in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission
Such language is regrettable and could leave some institutions of higher learning susceptible to a legal action by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) according to a spokesman from South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint’s office. . . .
The bill includes $20 billion for school “modernization, renovation or repair of facilities†– with $14 billion for elementary and secondary schools and $6 billion for higher education, which includes the secular string attached.
From Redstate and the Culture and Media Insitute.
Essentially what this means is that if you have a mueseum dedicated to mobsters it would be easier to get funding from this stimulus than say, a school cafeteria where the boy scouts meet or a religous school.
While this is ridicoulous on the surface (people are as employed fixing up the roof of a church as they are a bus terminal) people on the left will cry ‘Seperation of Church and State’, something I maintain is a red herring.
Those on the left do not like religion, its that simple. Religion exists outside the state, above the state and the individual and reminds people that their rights come from somewhere not of this world and also reminds them that they can rely on something besides the state for support and comfort even if all of their other safety nets fail them. People of faith tend to help themselves more and rely on the government less and this is something that is athama to the understanding of those on the left. The left’s ideology only seems to work when everyone bows down to the almighty altar of the government.
This policy, and those like it, are designed to make it harder for religious organizations to operate and easier for organizations like the ACLU to put restrictions on organized religion (which, by the way is what the 1st Amendment is really supposed to stop). Think about it this way. A school takes money under this law to fix a roof in their cafeteria and it is perfectly legal because they have never hosted a religious activity or club, but do occasionally rent it out to other organizations for a small fee. Years later a church needs space to hold service and approaches the school, the school would have no choice but to turn them away or face a law suit.
This is the way of things.
I am so glad you finally wrote an article on the page. It is great to have your opinion heard.
Anyways, I completely agree with you. The wording in this stimulus that does not allow funds to be available to anyone that has anything to do with religion is unbelievable. Organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts which have a set of values derived from those in the bible are the ones that are going to suffer. We are losing our values and are paying for it right now. This is going to continue to get worse. I am afraid that either people like us are going to slowly fade into the background or something worse.
Thank you for taking the time to voice your opinion.
Left by Richard on February 4th, 2009