With charity for some? Illinois court rejects Catholic agency’s ‘right’ to discriminate with public

[cleanhippie]

We’ve had a welcome slew of court victories for church-state separation as of late.

Most recently, a state court in Illinois has rejected a lawsuit brought by Catholic Charities. The Catholic agency wanted to continue receiving government contracts for adoption services but still discriminate by refusing to place children with couples in civil unions.

This became a particularly heated issue back in June when Illinois granted same-sex couples the right to form civil unions and, therefore, the right to jointly adopt.

The Catholic hierarchy didn’t like the new law, and several Illinois dioceses threatened to stop providing adoption services if they had comply with it.

State officials didn’t seem to mind, though. They simply informed Catholic Charities that the agency’s contract to provide foster care and adoption services would not be renewed. The state said Catholic Charities was in violation of the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act because the agency would not provide adoption and foster care services to couples in civil unions.

Losing the contract meant a loss of $30 million in state funds for the Catholic group. Outraged, the dioceses of Springfield, Peoria and Joliet sued the state, arguing that they have property rights to renew the contract. But on Friday, Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt denied that request – holding that the state was within its rights.

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/08/23/illinois-court-rejects-catholic-charities-lawsuit-over-same-sex-couples/

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And ANOTHER 1st Amendment WIN!!!

[laconicsax]

1. Rec'd to zero.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[seeviewonder]

7. I recced to make up for the person who likes

to discriminate. Trollllll....

[darkstar3]

3. Another rec, still 0.

I can't fucking believe that anyone would be in favor of allowing taxpayer money to fund discrimination.

[NMMNG]

8. Oh but...

If you don't allow them to discriminate against Teh Gays you're discriminating against them!1!1 How dare you expect them to follow the same laws as everyone else? It's religious persecution!1!1

[ZombieHorde]

9. Cognitive dissonance. The RCC represent all that is good and holy,

yet the RCC does some really nasty shit.

[laconicsax]

10. Therefore, really nasty shit is good and holy.

All the more reason to reject it.

[AndyTiedye]

4. k/r

[TlalocW]

5. Church officials - But that $30 million is ours!

Oh, and of course, we love the orphans and want to see them adopted or whatever...

I'm glad other agencies are stepping up to handle the caseloads. The Catholic Church doesn't deserve any kind of victory in this - not even a, "See, we told you so," one if they proved difficult to replace.

TlalocW

[MADem]

6. There's always been BIG MONEY in BABIES....especially pale ones.

And of course, if you can place them with a CATHOLIC family, then they've got themselves the "gift that keeps on giving." They'll pull the "guilt string" at every opportunity. It's like a "Forever Shakedown!"

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[LeftishBrit]

12. Similar issues are going on in the UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/apr/26/catholic-adoption-agency-gay-lesbian