| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
18 Nov 2005 09:36:44 AM |
| Object: |
Church financial disclosure bill hits snag in House |
Church financial disclosure bill hits snag in House
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/16/church_financial_disclosure_bill_hits_snag_in_house/
Boston Globe - United States
Church financial disclosure bill hits snag in House
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer | November 16, 2005
BOSTON --A bill requiring religious organizations to disclose their
finances ran into opposition in the House after leaders of smaller
religious denominations said they feared becoming "collateral damage" in
the Roman Catholic church's clergy sexual abuse scandal.
The bill was set to be debated by the House on Wednesday, the last
scheduled day of formal debate for the year, but at the last minute the
vote was put off.
Backers of the bill, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate last
week, said religious groups should be held to the same reporting
requirements as other public charities.
They argued that financial secrecy helped the Catholic church in
Massachusetts hide the burgeoning clergy sexual abuse scandal, even as
church officials shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.
But representatives of smaller religious organizations say the bill
violates the constitutional separation between church and state and
unfairly sweeps them into the middle of a dispute between the Catholic
church and disgruntled parishioners.
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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