LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jrfrench)

The House has passed H.R 2123, the "School Readiness Act of 2005." Amendment #574 (Boehner) allows "faith based" groups to discriminate in hiring and accepting volunteers for Headstart programs:

More information on the bill here.

Text of amendment:

(a)(1) The Secretary shall not provide financial assistance for any program, project, or activity under this subchapter unless the grant or contract with respect thereto specifically provides that no person with responsibilities in the operation thereof will discriminate with respect to any such program, project, or activity because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, political affiliation, or beliefs.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a recipient of financial assistance under this subchapter that is a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society, with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities. Such recipients shall comply with the other requirements contained in this subsection.

The act is now in committee. Write your senators and tell them to oppose Amendment #547 to the School Readiness act.

List of senators:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Handwritten/typed letters have more impact than e-mails.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

If I mentioned this community before, I apologize, but it's good enough to mention again: DefCon: The campaign to Defend the Constitution. It's another community whose focus is to counter the Religious Right. It just officially launched yesterday.

They've started with a bang, too- their Islands of Ignorance map shows where the ID-iots are making inroads into school cirriculae. If you live on one of these 'islands', you should consider making your presence known and disdain for ID-iocy felt.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Sierra Times article is very interesting:

The American Empire: An Unholy Alliance between Church and State
Lee R. Shelton IV

The man hailed as the first Christian emperor of Rome was Constantine, whose alleged "conversion" in 312 A.D. came on the eve of a great battle for the Roman throne. In the simplified version of the legend, Constantine saw a flaming cross in the sky emblazoned with the words "In hoc signo vinces," meaning "By this sign, conquer"--and he proceeded to do just that.

Constantine the Great, however, was far from Christian. Throughout his life, he remained a worshipper of Sol Invictus (the Invincible Sun) and retained the title of "Pontifex Maximus," which meant that, in addition to his duties as emperor, he served as the chief priest of the Roman pagan religion. (Ironically, the Catholic Church continues to bestow that title on its popes.)( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY neadods)

xposted (with commentary removed) from my personal journal:

According to breaking news reports in England and Saudi Arabia (where she currently is), Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes answered a question today as to why President Bush references God so often with this:

"Our Constitution cites "one nation under God."

It turns out that Reforming Schools has a full expose of an AoG church school receiving moneys under state voucher programs.

(Seeing as AoG religious schools commonly use the A-Beka curriculum--which I have reported on in a two-part series, and seeing as there is now a major push for the use of vouchers for Katrina evacuees, this is very relevant.)

Among other things, this particular school is:

a) only one of *eleven* schools interviewed that were even remotely willing to allow outside groups in that are receiving state money
b) per the article, requires sectarian religious tests for employees (even though they are receiving state dollars)
c) require kids (in violation of the state regulations) to attend religious indoctrination courses without an option of opting out
d) apparently thinks that "name it and claim it" *faith healing* is an appropriate response for injured kids on the playground (per the article: "Our faith is woven into everything we do. If a child falls down on the playground, we pray for him.")

This is part of a special report Rethinking Schools has done on voucher programs, in which the two articles mentioned in my reports on A-Beka originally appeared (and which were invaluable for some of my own research).

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

"Many people around the world do not understand the important role that faith plays in Americans' lives.....previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our constitution cites 'one nation under God'."
-Karen Hughes, current State Department Undersecretary