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I think a lot of the discussion here is extremely off-topic.
The issue at hand was a city administration handing over free property to a Roman Catholic High School. A judge, responding to a group of tax-paying citizens in a law suit, agreed that what took place is unfair.
Now all this talk about majorities and minorities ... I looked up the statistics for the Roman Catholic Church in the US, and it appears they make up about 22% of the population; an impressive number to be sure but still a minority.
What kind of precedent does this set? If the City Council hands over a $1.2 million dollar piece of property to a Catholic school, what should they do if a Protestant school or a Jewish School or a Unitarian School or a Buddhist school needs an athletic field?
I think a lot of the discussion here is extremely off-topic.
The issue at hand was a city administration handing over free property to a Roman Catholic High School. A judge, responding to a group of tax-paying citizens in a law suit, agreed that what took place is unfair.
Now all this talk about majorities and minorities ... I looked up the statistics for the Roman Catholic Church in the US, and it appears they make up about 22% of the population; an impressive number to be sure but still a minority.
What kind of precedent does this set? If the City Council hands over a $1.2 million dollar piece of property to a Catholic school, what should they do if a Protestant school or a Jewish School or a Unitarian School or a Buddhist school needs an athletic field?
Good points Clark.
IMO...religious organizations should pay taxes on everything but their bona fide charitable endeavors.
Anything else is a favor of "the church" by the "state".
If the majority of the electorate and the majority of the government in all branches determines to ignore the constitution, who's going to stop them?
The Supreme court has in the past and will in the future.
A huge majority of the people were in favour of the parts of the "New deal" that the supreme court quashed so your comment must be made out of ignorance of both history and the Constitution of the USA and how it works!!!
The Supreme court has in the past and will in the future.
A huge majority of the people were in favor of the parts of the "New deal" that the supreme court quashed so your comment must be made out of ignorance of both history and the Constitution of the USA and how it works!!!
...and how would I characterize your response? Stupidity?
The Supreme Court constitutes a portion of judicial branch of our government which is part of the three branches I specified in my post. In other words, if the majority of the supreme court joins forces with the executive and the legislative branch and the electorate, who's going to stop them?
And if the new high school were a Muslim school? Or even a Jewish school? All of the fools here wanting to blur the line between church and state would be screaming in their indignation.
Leave the religious aspect out for a second. A city government buys a lot for $1.2 million and then sells it to a non-governmental organization for $1. As a taxpayer I would be riding the mayor and city council out of town on a rail.
On the other hand, South Bend was getting a high school (tuition-based, but still...) cheaper than it could build one itself. I can see why the city made the deal.
You're witnessing religious thinking in action. Facts agree with him = he's right. Facts disagree with him = reality will obviously change so he's also right. It's sad that this kind of faith isn't limited to meaningless stuff like religion, but what can you do?
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