Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 02/07/2009 11:13:55 AM PST by TruthHound
'This isn't like a convenient oversight, this is intentional'
President Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan makes a deliberate – and unconstitutional – attempt to censor religious speech and worship on school campuses across the nation, according to a lawyer who argued related cases before the U.S. Supreme Court 20 years ago and won them all.
"This isn't like a convenient oversight. This is intentional. This legislation pokes its finger in the eyes of people who hold religious beliefs," Jay Sekulow, chief of the American Center for Law and Justice, told WND today.
His was the organization that decades ago argued on behalf of speech freedom on school campuses, winning repeatedly at the U.S. Supreme Court. Since then, the 2001 Good News Club v. Milford Central School District decision was added, clarifying that restricting religious speech within the context of public shared-use facilities is unconstitutional.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Check the article close. It links back to FR.
“This language is so vague, it’s not clear if students can even pray in a dorm room renovated with this funding since that is a form of ‘religious worship.’ If this provision remains in the bill, it will have a chilling effect on students of faith in America,” he said.
Wonder if they can trace who put this idiotic provision in a jobs bill.
The problem in the proposed stimulus bill comes from a provision that states: “PROHIBITED USES OF FUNDS. - No funds awarded under this section may be used for - (C) modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities - (i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission.”
Will this provision also shut down Obama worship in journalism schools?
No. Because 0bama worship is a cult, not a religion.
If it isn't possible to see who initiated certain items into legislation it certainly should be.
Likewise, if GOP reps know who the individuals are they should call them on it and make it clear to Americans who is doing it.
The Dems are on a path to destroy our country with debt, deception and divisiveness.
“Idiot libs couldn’t resist throwing God under the bus in the “stimulus” sh!t sandwich.”
I know that there are Americans who are absolutely convinced that God is a right winger and in need of our government’s support, but most religious people on this planet, indeed in this country, believe otherwise. This article is more than a little over the top. If Sekulow’s crowd is right, they can always find some dog vomit Mohammedan to represent in a suit over foot baths at state schools. They’ll lose...thank God! In any event, it is positively NOT the government’s job to subsidize religion. That’s bad for the government and worse for the religion.
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
I bet there’s an exemption in there for foot baths.
It’s in WorldNutDaily — the world champion of stretches, so yeah, I’d call it a stretch.
Chuckle.
Whether a student living in a dorm could have a Bible study group meet in their room would be another instance where the affect of this provision could possibly kick in. If you think that's reaching, a “dorm floor father” was told that it was a violation of the separation of church & state for him to hold a Bible study in his dorm room.
This bill is so large that we don’t even know what is in it. And Congress is in such a hurry to pass this pork-fest that we aren’t going to know what’s in it until after it becomes law and we all have to live under it. It doesn’t surprise me that there would be an anti-religious provision in this bill. I also understand that the bill promotes universal health care. How are either one of things going to “stimulate” the economy? Of course, the whole idea of the government spending us out of a recession is absurd. In the end, it will only prolong the recession while it creates massive inflation.
Nope.
Is there anywhere a person can get a look at what is in the massive piece of ..... being shoved down our throats? Seems like we are hearing about bits and pieces but not the entire package. Just wondering what other nonsense we are going to uncover.
The times we live in...it seems like anything's possible -- anything nihilistic, that is.
Oy.
“This bill is so large that we don’t even know what is in it.”
And neither does obama nor any single member of the House or Senate ! I apologize for not being able to cite the precise segment of the horrendous McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform debacle at issue, even though one of the “authors” is a senator in the state in which I reside, however I recall both McCain and Feingold being stunned/displeased by an article contained in the bill, long after it passed. My guess is, if they had even bothered to read the bill, since we know legislative aides and lawyers wrote it, perhaps they wouldn’t have been so shocked.
I heard the host of a radio program make an interesting comment several days ago. He said that if you look back on the 5 worst decisions you have made in your life, invariably, every one of those decisions was made in haste or without thoroughly researching alternatives.
All I have ever heard from the left is that “something” has to be done. I’ve even had some liberal pundits admit they don’t know what that “something” is, while staunchly defending the expenditure of a trillion tax dollars on this unknown.
As a taxpayer, I contend that it is the duty of my legislators to know exactly what is contained in every bill on which they cast a vote to ensure that tax dollars are spent in a manner, based on in-depth research, that will solve the problem on which the bill is focused.
I’d actually like to believe they have a serious interest in protecting our Constitution as well. That document is going to be attacked viciously by the left since, “they won”.
EODGUY
“Will this provision also shut down Obama worship in journalism schools?”
<<<Critical Thinking Points to you! Obama worship in any schools for that matter :(
The stimulus bill itself is just a further erosion of the Constitution since the Constitution does not give the federal government the authority to spend money on most of the items in this bill.
I am currently reading De Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” and it is truly depressing to see how powerful the federal government has become. The founders never envisioned the government becoming as large, powerful, and dominating as it is now. The stimulus bill will only further increase the size and power of the government while further eroding the freedom of the people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.