A letter to the editor about the favouring of churches as agencies of the government that I thought was pertinent and thought provoking. Trudy *************************** In relation to the discussion on allocation of funds to job agencies, I think it needs to be said that the churches are not monolithic. Even within each church there have long been different ways of working as social service agencies set in a secular society. Some agencies require their staff to be more explicitly Christian, rather than simply compassionate and ethical people. Some agencies require that their clients, such as homeless people, attend Christian worship and Bible study before they grant them assistance, while others would not countenance such conditions on service. The nature of the present funding faces churches in general with ethical questions about the way all their agencies handle funds and services which belong to taxpayers and also challenges their overall vision for the formation of a responsible community. What is particularly concerning in the present situation, in my view, is that this Government is not so much favouring "the churches" in its placing of funds. It is tending to favour those parts of the churches which support its policies in general - for example, on the GST and on drug programs - and which mostly have more conservative policies for social service. This may have serious implications for our future as a democracy in the sustaining of the freedom of critical voices in the non-government sector. - Rev. D. McRae-McMahon, Rozelle. ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
