Non-Christians need not apply

[drmomentum[$]]

Columns: Non-Christians need not apply

In 2005 alone, more than $2-billion in federal tax money went to faith-based programs for such services as job placement programs, addiction treatment and child mentoring. Overwhelmingly, this money went to groups affiliated with Christian religions.
This reallocation of social service money from secular agencies to religiously affiliated programs has also resulted in shifting employment opportunities. But some of these new employers have a shocking job requirement - only Christians need apply.

[phoenixx]

I was talking about this to a few people around here the other day, but they didn't "get" why this was Not A Good Thing.

[MrsNormanMaine[$]]

I do believe there is a comment about 'Render unto Caesar' and 'Render unto God'...

MNM

[rmthunter]

OK -- this is a surprise exactly how?

[drmomentum[$]]

LOL, Bob. I was just saying to someone that this is a surprise to nobody. But, really, my problem is that I haven't really been paying attention to this story which has been going on since 2003.

There have been recent developments.

GAO Finds the Bush Administration’s Faith-Based Initiative Lacks Safeguards Against Religious Discrimination

It's like Leslie said, though. A lot of people jsut think that as long as it's Christians doign the discriminating and their discriminating against non-Christians, or as long as the money is being used to spread their own belief system, they look the other way.

But even the thickest bonehead starts to take notice when they think that a Muslim might get his hands on some of that money. But, of course, the problem isn't that the state is funding religion. It's that it might fund the wrong religion.

[rmthunter]

I remember catching a comment by the designated then-head of the program when asked whether a Wiccan soup kitchen would be eligible for a grant. He stopped just short of a flat "no," apparently having more political sense than most Bush appointees.

Look, this is pork barrel politics for the religious right. It was never anything else.

[erik_kosberg]

"The far-right GOP base has probably suspected for years that they're being used, cynically, by Republican elites who don't genuinely care about the movement's agenda, and here's a White House insider coming forward to say all of their fears are absolutely true. How would a group like James Dobson's Focus on the Family respond? According to an email the group sent to its members this morning, the group refuses to believe its lying eyes."

I can't figure out whether this is sad, funny, or merely pathetic.

[drmomentum[$]]

Olberman on the subject:

YouTube - Satan Worshippers! K.O.'d