--- The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2437/legal.htm "Under the US Constitution, it is illegal for the Federal Government or for any state to pass a law which establishes government support for any religious view, or which serves to advance any particular religious view. The "Balanced Treatment Law", Judge Overton concluded, violated this "Establishment Clause"."
Ashcroft was recently here to push the President's faith-based initiative [the local Hari Krshna temple hopes to cash in, according to one local station]. http://www.thedailycamera.com/bdc/state_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2419_1671200,00.html "I find it sad that the person who ought to be the top law enforcement official in America is actively trying to erase both civil rights and First Amendment protections," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Bush failed to persuade the Senate last year to pass the initiative but implemented parts of it through executive order. Criticism has centered mainly on a provision allowing groups to make hiring decisions based on a job applicant's faith but still win federal funding. "This is an insurmountable civil rights problem," Lynn said. http://www.ccmep.org/2003_articles/General/011403_ashcrft+touts.htm "U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft brought the battle over faith-based initiatives to Denver on Monday, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of true believers. "When a need is expressed, you don't have to be the proverbial rocket scientist, a theoretical mathematician. You don't have to be a Ph.D.," Ashcroft told a luncheon audience of nearly 3,000 at the Adam's Mark Hotel. "You just have to be a person whose spirit responds to the need and says, 'I will.' " At a one-day White House conference on faith-based and community initiatives, Ashcroft - who has made no apologies for a political ideology strongly shaped by his religious faith - was the keynote speaker." I think many religious organizations do a great deal of good with their outreach and social programs, but the idea of giving federal money to any of them, besides seeming to me to violate the Constitution, gives me the creeps. Money -> power -> corruption. Not A Handmaiden Maru __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
