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Home | News Briefs | U.S. | World | Celeb Buzz | Entertainment | Sports | Business | Health | Sci / Tech | Politics | Weird & Offbeat Stimulus Provision Criticized As 'Anti-Faith' Actually Constitutional, Experts Say March 4, 2009 8:44 a.m. EST Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Some conservatives have called President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package anti-faith for prohibiting the use of funds to renovate higher educational facilities used for religious worship. But experts say the legislation may actually be unconstitutional without such a restriction. The House had passed an $819 billion version late January with no Republican votes, and the Senate approved an $838 billion package narrowly by 61-37 a few weeks later. Two weeks ago, the President signed into law a final trimmed-down $787 billion version that the House GOP had again unanimously opposed, and that Democrats in the Senate were barely able to pass by the 60-vote threshold to avoid Republican filibusters. The GOP was primarily focused on the legislation's "wasteful spending" that would add to the nation's debt and "permanently expand" some government programs. But conservative groups had also warned of religious discrimination under a provision in the stimulus. The provision prohibits the modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities in higher education institutions that are "(A) used for sectarian instruction or religious worship; (B) or in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission." Many conservatives had rallied behind an amendment introduced by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) that would have "allow[ed] the free exercise of religion at institutions of higher education that receive funding" from the stimulus. But that amendment was rejected by a vote of 54-43, with all nay votes coming from Democrats except Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), a moderate. DeMint had called the vote "a direct attack on students of faith" and accused Democrats of "using an economic stimulus bill to promote discrimination." A group called the Traditional Values Coalition had said after the vote that Democrats had shown "their anti-Christian bias," while the American Family Association had teamed up with former Speaker Newt Gingrich to ask supporters to contact their representatives to vote against final passage of the stimulus. And the American Center for Law and Justice had threatened to sue the"discriminatory measure." DeMint had also called the restriction unconstitutional, citing the 2001 Good News Club v. Milford Central School Supreme Court decision that said "restricting religious speech within the context of public shared-use facilities (or schools) is unconstitutional." But Tobin Grant, an associate professor of political science at Southern Illinois University, cites a 1971 Supreme Court decision in a recent article on Christianity Today. That ruling, Tilton v. Richardson, says that grants under the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 for non-religious school facilities do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." According to Dr. Richard Yanikoski, president and CEO of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the provision limiting government funds to non-sectarian facilities is "nothing new and already the current practice when the federal government provides funding." The funds can be used "for an education building or a science building but it cannot include explicit religious purposes," adds Dr. Yanikoski. "This is the government's interpretation of the separation of church and state.... certainly it is the case that in Catholic campuses, there are buildings of a religious nature... we would not expect the government to be funding that. Schools [looking to repair those buildings] will have to find funding from some place other than the government." Grant similarly says in his article that the restriction is nothing unusual and has been part of federal policy in education funding for four decades. "Nearly all buildings at religious colleges and universities would qualify for funding. The only facilities that would not qualify are chapels, church buildings, and others that are most often used for explicitly religious purposes. The key is to define the primary purpose of a facility. If its purpose is religious teaching or worship, then the building is ineligible. If the facility is used for classes, housing, or study, however, then it can be renovated using funds from the stimulus bill," he adds. CatholicCharitiesUSA.Org, whose president, Father Larry Snyder, is part of the President's faith-based council, refused to directly comment on the provision and instead issued their official statement on the stimulus. "Though the economic recovery package did not include all of the provisions that Catholic Charities USA supports such as the Social Services Block Grant, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and a number of necessary housing programs, we hope that this action will begin to ease some of the burden that people are experiencing. Catholic Charities USA will continue our work to ensure that the marginalized are included as a priority in our nation's efforts to reshape its economic future," the group said. Copyright © 2003 - 2009 AHN - All rights reserved.Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.License AHN news for your website, business, digital signage network or publication. Home | News Briefs | U.S. | World | Entertainment | Sports | Business | Health | Sci / Tech | Politics | Weird / Offbeat © 2009 AHN Client Login | Submit News | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact | Content Services All Rights Reserved

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