Civil Rights Are Dead Under Bush Faith-Based Initiatives

"Forty-year old legislation mandating non-discriminatory hiring practices is being slowly dismantled by this Republican Congress, with approval of the President," writes Kathy Gill, About.com's guide to US Politics.

Kathy continues "On 22 September, for the first time in its history, the House of Representatives voted to repeal civil rights protections by using a floor amendment -- no committee hearings, debate, or expert testimony required: only the rhetoric of House Education Committee Chair Rep. Boehner (R-OH-8) was needed to condone religious organization discriminatory hiring practices for employees whose salaries are paid with federal taxes."

This started under the guise of the President faith-based initiatives, which commenced in 2001. Federal funds are granted to faith-based organizations...mostly Christian groups....and for the first time in US history, those organizations may use those funds following their church/organization rules and not federal employment law.

Thus, federal funds (i.e. taxpayers' money) may be used to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, sexual orientation or any other factor the group deems acceptable. At Bush's behest, this now occurs in every agency of the federal government controlled by the White House.

So as Kathy writes, "discriminatory hiring practices for employees whose salaries are paid with federal taxes" is now very real, and quite widespread. We're talking about billions each year, and growing. Equal opportunity and civil rights for all Americans are dead under faith-based initiatives.

Be sure to read Kathy's article, House OKs Religious Discrimination, where she discusses details of this House change, as well as of the recent Salvation Army litigation decision.

And I wrote about this in early 2005, at Federal Funding of Faith-Based Services.
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