02-27-2003, 06:15 PM
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#1
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Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 40,549
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upcoming vote on faith based funding
From the Interfaith Alliance:
Quote:
Within the next two weeks, it is expected that the recently reintroduced Charity Aid, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act (S.272), sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA), will be before the U.S. Senate for immediate consideration.
The CARE Act is identical to the faith-based initiative legislation that failed to receive a vote in the last Congress due to significant civil rights and religious liberty concerns. TIA remains opposed to the inclusion of the Title VIII, Equal Treatment for Non-Governmental Providers, provision of the legislation.
Our opposition to the CARE Act is based upon our concerns for: advancing religion in ways that violate the U.S. Constitution; promoting unhealthy competition among religious bodies for government grants; enmeshing religion in the political appropriations process; undermining the prophetic voice of faith; allowing houses of worship to become dependent on tax money and beholden to government priorities; and sanctioning government-funded religious discrimination in employment.
Unless the Senate makes it clear that religious ministries using taxpayer funds cannot discriminate in their hiring, the Bush Administration has indicated that faith-based ministries will have carte blanche to do so. Some probable areas of discrimination include refusing to hire a qualified applicant because he or she is a member of a different religion or due to his or her sexual orientation.
In addition to allowing employment discrimination, the Bush Administration will also allow these ministries to operate their social service program in an environment full of covert proselytization, including the prominent display of religious icons and sacred scripture. Potential beneficiaries who may be uncomfortable with seeking government assistance in this atmosphere will be forced to either accept the surroundings or seek assistance elsewhere.
Additionally, TIA believes that fostering an environment where religious organizations compete against each other for limited government grants has the potential to seriously divide the faith community in this nation.
Finally, passage of the CARE Act threatens to silence the prophetic voice of religion that has been a driving force for social and political change in this nation. When government dollars begin to dictate to clergy and religious leaders which issues they can talk about and which ones they cannot, religious life in this nation and the power of faith becomes compromised. TIA supporters are urged to use our Legislative Action Center to register their objections and urge their Senators to vote no!
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http://www.interfaithalliance.org/ad...d/le030219.htm
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