First Amendment equals the right to public funding?


Religious groups in California protest
Okay, I've missed something here.

Religious groups in California have assailed a bill that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Aug. 28, saying it violates their first amendment rights by penalizing them for their religious beliefs.

The Senate Bill 1441 would potentially remove state assistance from organizations which stand-by religious beliefs deemed discriminatory towards homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals, and the like.

In a press release, the Sacramento-based Capitol Resource Institute pointed out that the bill, “will prevent parochial schools, such as private, Christian, Catholic, Mormon, and many other religious universities, from receiving student financial assistance if they also maintain a student code of conduct preventing behavior deemed immoral by their religious beliefs.”

“Forcing private education institutions to accept students engaged in behavior offensive to the school’s moral code is a serious infringement of the constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech,” the statement said.

Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute, said that the legislation “is an outright, blatant assault on religious freedom in California.”

“This bill is yet another attempt to prevent citizens with moral and religious principles from expressing their beliefs and educating their children according to those beliefs,” continued England. “On behalf of California families, private schools, and other private organizations, I express our outrage at this attack on our freedom.”

Let me see if I have got this right.

The bill could remove public funds from private institutions.

The people making the noise want to use public funds to support private beliefs.

This is why religion and government should be kept separate and why government should be smaller than absolutely necessary.

Anyway you slice it, this is one person's freedom without accountability and at the expense of someone else's freedom.

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— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - August 31, 2006 at 05:14 AM  Tag


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