Liberty Counsel: Stimulus Bill a “War on Prayer”
Fox News carries an interesting article based on a Liberty Counsel press release about the current “stimulus package” being debated in Congress. In a section designating funds for schools, the legislation says that funds may not be used for
modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities (i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission.
Interestingly, Fox News chose to put a picture of the US Naval Academy Chapel as the article’s illustration. Liberty Counsel maintains that the restriction is discrimination based on viewpoint, while Americans United for the Separation of Church and State calls it “Constitutional.”
A Harvard Law professor is quoted as saying there are certainly Constitutional concerns with the legislation, but given the current judicial direction it is unlikely the Liberty Counsel would prevail.
//it is unlikely the Liberty Counsel would prevail//
Good! Free exercise does NOT mean state subsidized exercise. As long as churches remain tax-exempt, they shouldn’t get a government (read: tax-payer!) check. Would you want to be forced to involuntarily pay for a mosque or Temple of Satan? Probably not. So why should every taxpayer be forced to pay for government-approved Christian churches? You want a church? Pay for it yourself, voluntarily. Tithing to Christian churches is a Christian practice that should never be forced onto non-Christians.
(Yes, I equivocated Christian schools with churches.)
Dustin,
The bill was not restricted to churches/mosques/synagogues, as you imply; it was very broadly worded, which is why the Liberty Counsel and others objected. It also required the government to assess and then act on the content of the speech occurring inside the buildings, which has generally been understood to be unConstitutional in the past.
Dustin: As long as churches remain tax-exempt, they shouldn’t get a government (read: tax-payer!) check.
Not only is the bill not restricted to churches, the Founding Fathers spent taxes on churches, (Christianity) Thomas Jefferson giving money to the Kaskaskia Tribe Indians for a Christian Church. The separation dogma is flawed.