From the Chronicle: Discuss Obama's Plan to Aid Religious Charities

July 02, 2008

From the Chronicle: Discuss Obama's Plan to Aid Religious Charities

Sen. Barack Obama’s plan to help religious charities get government aid has stimulated a lively discussion on The Chronicle’s Web site. We hope you will share your views now. Just click on the comment link below the article and your voice will be added to the debate.

Comments

Religious charities utilize their activities to promote their religion. Providing gov’t funds to those charities would violate the principle of separation of church and state. Citizens wishing to support religious charities should be able to choose which to support and do so directly with their own funds.

— Ray Highsmith Jul 2, 04:08 PM #
What a lot of people don’t know is that this is being done already but on a small scale. The current President of the U.S. has promoted these activities since he got in office. Barack Obama’s plan is more community oriented at a grass roots level and is at a wider scale. I think this has and will continue to be good for the country.

— Timothy from South Bend, IN Jul 2, 05:23 PM #
Ray, Providing gov’t funds to those charities would NOT violate the principle of separation of church and state. Should any ‘church’ receive those funds, no where, is the gov’t or a state declaring that a particular church will be a State’s church, nor the U.S. gov’t church. Therefore I ask, why are you deliberately against religion to receive those gov’t monies?

— Tyler Jul 2, 05:33 PM #
My how things have changed! The Democrats have consistently criticized President Bush’s faith based initiatives. Now they have a presidential candidate promoting them! I predict Obama will bow to his party’s wims and we won’t see anymore from him.

— Jay G. Smith Jul 2, 05:52 PM #
There are many social services that are totally secular and non-biased in nature that receive federal and state funds. The litmus test is not whether or not the governing body is a church; it is whether or not any church doctrine is either presented or required in order to receive the services. Get control over your Christophobic feelings and let’s just get the job done.

— Charles Huff Jul 3, 10:54 AM #
This is disappointing. It is unconstitutional and bad policy. We need social welfare systems to be strengthened and properly administered so that all who have needs, regardless of their religious orientation, can have those needs met. President Bush’s policy has been disastrous – look at the fundamentalist Christian Prison Fellowship Ministries, which received millions in government aid. It helped inmates at an Iowa prison – whom it had converted to Christianity – get preferential treatment compared to those who did not. In fact, even those who were already Christian but not of PFM’s particular brand were also discriminated against. This kind of impropriety can only grow if government funding of religious charities continues in the next administration.

— Kavya McLoughlin Jul 3, 06:39 PM #

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