No heretics need apply

Our Republican leaders have never been particularly happy with giving Federal funds to educational institutions which allow students to protest the actions of the Government, but giving money to schools who will only hire members of a certain religion is a different matter.

I read AP’s Ben Feller in the Miami Herald who writes that the House approved a bill yesterday allowing Head Start programs run by religious organizations to hire only those who share their “faith.” The House passed the bill 231-184; only 23 Democrats voted for it.

"This is about our children, and denying them exemplary services just because the organization happens to be a religious one is just cruel," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.

If we ignore the fact that such programs are run by organizations that already receive support in the form of tax exemption and if we don’t look at the contradiction in authorizing such “cruelty” to teachers, assistants and janitors who don’t belong to the proper religion and if we remain oblivious to the obvious fact that no child is being denied anything but the opportunity to be proselytized, then the argument makes sense. If the alleged “right” to hire only coreligionists with taxpayer money weren’t about exposing children to a particular religion at the taxpayer’s expense, then there would be little reason to exclude Catholics, for instance, from teaching at Methodist schools.

Americans aren’t good at making rational judgments; after all we buy 8000 pound paramilitary vehicles to drive to the grocery store and elect leaders who don’t lead but steal from us, so this kind of emotional con, based on sectarian partisanship will surely succeed.

Without a change in law, said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the House education committee, "Faith-based organizations are forced to relinquish their protected rights to hire individuals who share their beliefs."

No they won’t, they will be forced to use their own money to promote their own beliefs. If it becomes law, we will be forced to give our tax money to organizations that won’t hire infidels like us.

Breitbart.com quotes another AP story this morning about a 14-year-old student expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians who have been together for 22 years and have three children. Do we need a better example of why we should not be giving public funds to an institution that punishes innocent children out of outright, unmitigated, faith-based bigotry?