http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Federal_earmarks_on_rise_for_evangelical_1031.html
[excerpt
Mounting federal earmarks fund 'scores' of religious groups
Jason Rhyne
Published: Thursday November 1, 2007
Earmarks setting aside federal funds for religious organizations --
including Christian groups openly focused on conversions and missionary
work -- are on the rise in appropriations bills in both the US House and
Senate.
According to analysis from Roll Call, which reviewed the contents of
appropriations bills in the 2008 fiscal year, "scores of religious
organizations across the country are being singled out...from earmarks for
local Catholic Charities USA organizations to funding for research programs
at private universities to faith-based drug treatment and jobs programs."
Although the paper points out that the bulk of the money for such groups is
specifically funneled to secular projects, some of the funds are targeted
at organizations "whose primary mission is evangelical."
The uptick in such earmarks has some activist organizations, such as
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, concerned about a
perceived increase in the blurring of the lines between religion and
government.
"The trend of earmarking federal funding for faith-based organizations is a
real problem," Dana Sher, the group's state legislative counsel, told Roll
Call. "Under the Constitution, government funding cannot be used to endorse
religion; it cannot be used for religious activities; and it cannot be used
to construct buildings for religious purposes."
Other watchdog organizations are also critical of the practice, citing what
they believe are inherent dangers in Congress hand-picking faith-based
causes it deems worthy of funding.
"Earmarks are about picking winners and losers, and it gets more touchy
when religion comes into it," Steve Ellis, the vice president for programs
of the group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said. "That starts raising red
flags."
One earmark, proposed by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) consisted of a "$100,000
provision to fund a science education program by the Louisiana Family
Forum," according to Roll Call. "The LFF has long opposed the teaching of
evolution-only science curricula in state schools, and the grant would have
gone toward a project to encourage schools to teach creationist theories of
development as well."
Vitter later bowed to pressure from the ACLU and others, removing that
specific earmark.
[end excerpt]
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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 · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . 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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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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