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I guess the old "for the children" is put on the back burner............
"For the past 31 years, the Christian ministry has been providing food to the hungry in Lake City, Fla. without any problems. But all that changed when they said a state government worker showed up to negotiate a new contract. “The (person) told us there was a slight change in the contract,” Daly told me. “They said we could no longer have religious information where the USDA food is being distributed. They told us we had to take that stuff down.”
Daly said it’s no secret that the Christian Service Center is a Christian ministry.
“We’ve got pictures of Christ on more than one wall,” she said. “It’s very clear we are not social services. We are a Christian ministry.”
Daly and her staff sat in stunned disbelief as the government agents also informed them that the Christian Service Center could no longer pray or provide Bibles to those in need. The government contract also forbade any references to the ministry’s chapel.
“We asked if we had to change the name of the organization but that said we could leave that,” Daly said. “But we had to take our religious stuff down.”
Isn't that nice the government didn't make em change their name.
Whoever is interpreting this is misconstruing the establishment clause. There is no requirement in any understanding of the 1st Amend that would prohibit a religious entity from also performing charity on behalf of the government.
What do you expect? The official is the product of Florida's educational system.
If the church wants to use government funds, it has to play by the governments rules. The church can choose to use their own funds to help the poor, then they can have any pictures they want.
The church wasn't giving away food that was provided by private individuals. The food was provided by the US government, and should be used to feed the hungry without proselytizing.
The fact that they refused to take down their decorations tells me they're less interested in filling empty bellies than getting converts. Kind of like the missionaries who flooded into tsunami devastation to "help", on the condition you convert. Otherwise, no food for you!
Jesus wept.
If the church wants to use government funds, it has to play by the governments rules. The church can choose to use their own funds to help the poor, then they can have any pictures they want.
Cept there are no such laws. From the link:
"The USDA referred to an Executive Order providing equal protection for faith-based organizations. That order guarantees those groups the right to provide assistance without “removing or altering religious art, icons, scriptures or other symbols from these facilities"
MTAtech nailed it. The state/county employee is misinformed or has his own agenda.
For the life of me, I had the impression that the government cheese program ended in the late 80's.
Wait until Obamacare takes over and see what they do to the hospitals. All Catholic hospitals have religious pictures in each room and in the halls.
If the government wants to control them it's going to be a bumpy ride for us all.
That's merely an uninformed view. Obamacare are insurance regulations and not the "takeover of healthcare" as the hard right tries to spread.
The bumpy ride you suggest is ending up being not so bumpy. There has been a striking slowdown in overall health costs since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, with many experts giving the law at least partial credit. And we now have a good idea what insurance premiums will be once the law goes fully into effect; a comprehensive survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that on average premiums will be significantly lower than those predicted by the Congressional Budget Office when the law was passed.
The church wasn't giving away food that was provided by private individuals. The food was provided by the US government, and should be used to feed the hungry without proselytizing.
The fact that they refused to take down their decorations tells me they're less interested in filling empty bellies than getting converts. Kind of like the missionaries who flooded into tsunami devastation to "help", on the condition you convert. Otherwise, no food for you!
Jesus wept.
OMG do you have the link to that? I can just see a missionary shoveling mud out of a home but not before they baptize the person in the muddy water. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Baptizing as people line up for food. OMG, just too silly to imagine. You did jump the shark this time. Sorry, I am still laughing.
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