http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/opinion/28wed4.html
Link to NYT editorial today
I've been yammering about this for a while now. The House has passed an amendment to Head Start funding allowing religious institutions to discriminate in their hiring practices and still receive federal funds. I'm ashamed to say my Congressman, usually a good guy, voted for it (one of the 23 Democrats who did). There must have been considerable arm twisting. The Senate has their own version of the Bill, without this provision. I have already written my Senators.
Head Start concerns me enough to start protesting. My two younger girls are alumni. They provide a pre-school program for parents living in poverty. If we suddenly have local Head Starts run completely by one denomination (no matter which), their views are bound to spill over into the program itself. This bill has other unfortunate provisions, but one thing at a time.
Head Start teaches or reinforces many things. Sharing, manners, working with a group, hygiene, acceptable behavior, and nutrition for example. Many of the kids don't learn these things at home. Their approach to moral values is doing fine or was when my girls attended. Whatever other problems they may have can be addressed without allowing discrimination and federal funding to be mentioned in the same breath.
We can have privately funded religious schools who are free to teach whatever they wish. We can have government funded schools who follow the Constitution on church/state separation. When we try to combine the two, we're in trouble.
I'm not trying to start a religious war on this blog and I'm not asking anyone to do anything. I'm just trying to get the word out for those who may be concerned.
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2 comments:
Oh for crying out loud. What this government does in the name of bureaucracy-- we are going to have more damn messes to clean up by the time W. is finished.
What really frightens me is that he seems to think he is a messenger from God...
iwfrw
He's an attractive puppet - many are right behind the curtain, pulling strings. Impeachment wouldn't help; we'd have Cheney and then Hastert, the Pres pro-tem, and then Condie. I'm already working on 2006 and 2008 plus we have a local election coming up soon. "All politics is local" - the fundamentalists know that and we need to learn it. The local City Council and School Boards may be more important than the Presidency in some respects.
For any of you coming in from the other side of these issues, that's what the 1st Amendment is all about. The Bill of Rights sets us apart from every other country.
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