Judge blocks a Bush administration faith-based grant to Arizona group

[Judi Lynn]

Judge blocks a Bush administration faith-based grant to Arizona group

LAST UPDATE: 1/15/2005 1:14:24 AM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A judge has blocked the Bush administration from providing future "faith-based" grants to an Arizona mentoring group that injected religion into its publicly funded programs.

The ruling is the first time a judge has struck down a grant through the president's faith-based initiative, which seeks to give religious groups equal footing in seeking federal grants to provide social services.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cut off funds to MentorKids USA in December after evidence showed the group used public money to directly support activities such as worship or religious instruction.
(snip)

MentorKids USA, based in Phoenix, received a three-year grant in 2003 to mentor the children of prisoners. The program hired only Christians to work as mentors and required them to adhere to a Christian statement of faith and code of conduct.
(snip/...)

http://www.wkrc.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=DA944E26-7C61-47CC-A124-73E4E67EBFB7

[R Hickey]

1. America is the land of prisons.

We once were the land of the free. Now we have six time as many prisoners, per capita, as any other land on earth.

This reminds me of how, during WWII, the Catholics used to steal the children of Jewish parents who were in the NAZI death camps. Once they had the kids, they would convert the kids to Catholicism. If they were Baptized, the children were never returned to their Jewish families, even after the war.

[Spangle]

2. American Indian Children

Were taken from their familys and sent to Catholic school to force the child to speak english and practice Catholicism. It was an effort to break the tribes religus beliefs, etc.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. What a crazy world. You steal someone's heritage, and then you don't

give them the support they need to fully thrive in the new culture. It's a wonder we aren't all suffering identity crisis'.

[rocktivity]

12. The plural of crisis is crises, Backlash

;)
rocknation

[Judi Lynn]

18. I live within walking distance of a similar school in the Midwest

which was operated by Methodists. Looks as if there may have been lotsa other denominations also trying to rip these young people away from the only world they knew, and teach them how to be less like themselves.

I've never heard these schools did any good whatsoever.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. It sure does sound like they aren't getting enough financial support from

their parishoners to justify the evangelizing. And you know what that means in a privatized, free market system. If you can't get private funds to support you, then you need to downsize your projects or even go belly-up.

[oneighty]

5. Also

The more the parishioners see that the taxpayers are paying the bills the less inclined they will be to contribute their very own hard earned money.

Another result of faith based grants might very well be the ultimate demise of organized private religion.

180

[wildwww2]

7. The sooner private religion loses all that power the better. As far as

I am concerned. My pompous ass sister in law has to dig at me once in a while for not being a believer. Like these people have never heard of freedom of religion before.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[readmylips]

10. I hear yah!...Got the same problem..

When did God appoint these people? My sisters-in-law send us religious propaganda all the time. My hub is not religious and has ho intentions of joining any religion, but he has a lot of faith, prays and is a great human being. I'm Catholic by birth and culture, and have no intentions of changing my religion.

For Christmas, the sisters sent us religious books, my hub was so upset he threw the books in the fireplace to start the fire. We danced around the fire...burn..baby burn.

[GetTheRightVote]

16. I like your husband, does he have a brother ??

:kick:

[Ian David]

6. I think you hit on something

It's not "faith-based funding."

It's a "government bail-out of religious institutions."

[Ian David]

8. "The Solomon Amendment": Cautionary Tale for faith-based funding advocate

To comply with the Solomon Amendment, the law schools must affirmatively assist military recruiters in the same manner they assist other recruiters, which means they must propagate, accommodate, and subsidize the military’s message. In so doing, the Solomon Amendment conditions funding on a basis that violates the law schools’ First Amendment rights.

Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights (FAIR) v. Rumsfeld
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
November 29, 2004

More:
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/solomon/Index.html

When you encounter people in favor of faith-based funding, ask them to research The Solomon Amendment and to get back to you in a couple days.

If they don't "get it," ask them what happens when the government says, "Do things the way we tell you to, or you get no more money."

For example, "What if the government says you have to provide benefits for gay couples if you still want government money?"

Fundies hate the thought of that.

I think they'd rather not take the money.

But by the time it would come to that, they'd become so dependent on government money, that it would be damned difficult for them to kick the government out of their church.

Just how the colleges have had a damned hard time kicking military recruiters off their campuses.

See also:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=%22The+Solomon+Amendment%22

Goring the Separationists
... Choice,' which opens the doors for faith-based organizations to ... of the ACLU and now
head of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, threatened ...
www.cpjustice.org/stories/storyReader$249

Washington Office for Advocacy: Supreme Court Upholds Separation ...
... "The 'faith-based' initiative suffered ... on the Case from: The Supreme Court of the
United States Americans United for the Separation of Church and State People ...
www.uua.org/uuawo/new/article.php?id=343

UUA Expresses Concern Over Bush's 'Faith-Based Initiatives'
... The press conference, sponsored by Americans United for the Separation of Church
and State, was held ... commented on Bush's proposed "faith-based initiative" from ...
www.uua.org/news/faithbased


Also:
http://www.google.com/u/americansunited?q=%22faith-based+initiative%22+&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Go

[newscott]

9. Yeah this worked so good in Texas

They repealed it after Bush left!!!!!

[struggle4progress]

11. kick

[stackhouse]

13. about time!!!!!!!

it's about time that some judge stood up against beinga bushass suck up

[Bouncy Ball]

14. When are these churches and religious groups

going to lose their tax-exempt status? They cannot take money from the taxpayers AND get away with not paying taxes, too.

[NYC]

15. The judge did the right thing.

We're fortunate we still have some decent judges. Without them, things would go downhill much faster.

Now, the church needs to lose its tax exempt status. Actually, it needs to lose its government funding. Tax exemption is more than enough funding.

[GetTheRightVote]

17. Yes, I only hope we see more of it in the future.

:kick: