Obama Faith Council Debates Requiring Fed. Fund Recipients to Remove Religious Symbols

The Obama administration's Faith Based Initiatives Council is considering forcing religious organizations which take federal funding to cover up their religious symbols in order to recieve funding.


Washington Post

Obama Faith Council Debates Religious Icons
By William Wan

Obama's faith council is finalizing its draft report this week, and one of the key debates that emerged from the phone conference yesterday was whether there should be rules requiring religious groups to cover up religious symbols if they receive federal funding for services. For example, if a church gets money for a soup kitchen, would it have to remove or put a cloth over all crosses, pictures, etc., every time it gets ready to feed the hungry?

That sparked a lively debate among council members that largely dominated yesterday's two-hour teleconference. Melissa Rogers, director of Wake Forest's Center for Religion and Public Affairs, who is leading the group tasked with solving such church-state issues laid ouit three possibilities the council could recommend:
1. Making such religious icons not allowed for federally funded services.
2. Allowing it only if no other religious neutral rooms are available and covering up such icons is impratical.
3. Not requiring removal of such icons but encouraging religious orgs to be sensitive about the issue.

Bill Donohue of the Catholic League takes issue with the Obama administrations stance:

"This is consistent with the animus against religion that we've seen from the beginning with this administration," Donohue told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) Friday. The leading Catholic watchdog called to mind an incident in April when, per White House request, Georgetown University covered up a plaque with a cross and a symbol for the name of Jesus that would have appeared over Obama's head during a speech there.

Donohue called on the administration to close down the faith office whose purpose, he said, has been radically altered from the original vision of the Bush administration.

"We're talking about people who are charged with faith-based initiatives, to implement them - and their central concern is not how they can facilitate service to the dispossessed stemming from faith groups, their concern is how can they shield the bigots in our society from religious iconography?" he asked.

"This is worse than just simply an insult, they're a fraud - because they're posing as though they are the friends of faith-based programs, when in fact they're not."

Life Site News

Bush's Faith Based Initiative was a bad idea from the beginning. With the ongoing debate over church and state involvement, the state should keep out of the business of funding religious organizations.

I agree with Donohue's call to close down the Faith Office. Any time the govt gives money to an organization, they believe they have the right to control that organization. The last thing we need is for the govt to exert control over religious organizations.

1st, they start with covering religious symbols, next they'll decide what can be taught in church. It's best to keep the govt out of religion in the 1st place.



[edit on 17-1-2010 by FortAnthem]

They are tax exempt the begin with, they make billions or if not trillions a year. The Vatican should be funding them. This faith based initiative is a WASTE of taxpayer money.

Keep your religion out of the government.

~Keeper

Originally posted by tothetenthpower

Keep your religion out of the government.

~Keeper

AND, keep your filty government outta my religion.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Well said my friend, I have to agree. Come to think of it I don't want to government doing ANYTHING that I haven't personally asked them to do.

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Govt funding of charitible institutions undermines the whole meaning of charity. Charitable giving is voluntary and the result of man's love for his fellow man.

How can it be charity if the money is taken at threat of gunpoint by govt goons?

It's not, it's just plain theft.