Holy Freeloading! 10 Ways Religious Groups Suck on the Public Purse

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/belief/holy-freeloading-10-ways-religious-groups-suck-public-purse



***SNIP

1. Fund your religion classes with school vouchers, tuition tax credits or capital grants. If your religion has or can open accredited private schools, public funding prospects are growing rapidly. Thirteen states created or expanded voucher programs in 2013, accelerating a trend from recent years. Vouchers allow parents to divert their children and tax dollars away from public schools and into private institutions, which then have wide religious latitude. Such a school can include classes in which children memorize sacred texts, for example, but also can infuse a religious perspective into classes as diverse as literature, history, and computer science. The opportunities aren’t limited to grade schools. In New Jersey, an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva is slated for $10.6 million in higher education grants to improve its male-only training in “Talmudic scholarship.” Mind you, the ACLU is quibbling.

***SNIP

2. Get free facilities for after-school clubs in public facilities. Child Evangelism Fellowship recruits grade-school children in the U.S. and abroad to born-again Christianity. In 2001, they took a case all the way to the Supreme Court and won the right to use public school facilities for their afternoon clubs. They persuaded the justices that they were teaching moral values, rather like the Boy Scouts and other groups that have long had access to public facilities. But parents who have sat in on the clubs assure us that these “values” include very specific dogmas and doctrines—things like heaven, hell and even biblical justification of genocide. Last year CEF operated over 4,000 Good News Clubs in public school facilities.

3. Nudge your doctrines into public school textbooks and discussions. Texas sets textbook standards for the whole country, and if a tenacious group of Texans gets their way, you may be able to move your message directly into public school curriculum. Members of the state’s textbook review panel have recommended adding creationism to biology texts while reducing coverage of the dominant competing theory. You may think that their account of the creation story is mistaken; yours may be different. But in the long run, their long hard work to blur the boundary between science and myth helps the whole religious sector.

4. Support military missionaries on government salaries. Twenty to 30 years ago, evangelical Christians identified the U.S. military as a prime mission field and soldiers as potential missionaries to the world. Hundreds of evangelical and Pentecostal “endorsing” agencies began credentialing chaplains. Today, according to investigative reporter Jeff Sharlet, more than two thirds of U.S. military chaplains come from one of these two traditions. They have successfully redirected female cadets into the more time-honored roles of wife and mother, shaped entertainment and education in military academies, and cultivated a cadre of officers who support their mission. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has resisted some of their bold attempts to build an army of Christian soldiers, but missionary chaplains continue to serve and shape America’s fighting men and women, all on the public dime. The door for more remains open.

[malaise]

1. The real takers

[Heidi]

2. Kick!

And mornin', sunshine!

[xchrom]

3. Dah-link!!! i'm ready for the Fall Social Season and the Car Port...

[Heidi]

5. Yes, indeedy! The season is upon us!

I trust you've put away your white patent leather shoes and handbag until next Memorial Day!

[xchrom]

7. i wouldn't be caught dead!

[NuclearDem]

4. Uh oh, tax time.

[el_bryanto]

6. This article works best if you already think that Religion is a scam

If you believe that many believers are sincere it may have less impact.

Bryant

[Skidmore]

9. Throughout history it has been a scam

which has relied on the ability to convert people into sincere believers of whatever in order to relieve them of money and goods.

[el_bryanto]

11. Nods - exactly. Since you think Religion is a scam the article probably worked for you

Since I don't think it's a scam it was less effective. It's hard for me to get upset that the local pastors get to use the same roads as the rest of us.

Bryant

[MNBrewer]

10. Then the believers are sincerely ripping everyone off

[aolwien]

8. A lot of churches use public high schools

for their Sunday services. I was shocked at how frequently this happens.

[Alkene]

12. Is, "...Suck on the Public Purse" a mixed metaphor?

I have faith that someone will enlighten me on this murky matter.