Atheist Group Upset FEMA Will Help Churches Rebuild After Disasters
American Atheists, a nationwide organization, expressed outrage over FEMA’s recent policy change making churches eligible for federal relief funds in the wake of natural disasters.
The atheist organization, which most recently gained the national spotlight by posting anti-Christmas billboards in several states, railed against the Trump administration for what they called a misapplication of federal law and for giving federal funds to churches that aided the relief efforts and served as emergency shelters and FEMA response bases for their local communities in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
The organization argued that such funds should go instead toward individuals and communities, despite the fact that congregants and those who received help from houses of worship view them as integral parts of their communities.
“It is shameful that the Trump Administration would misapply federal law in order to justify giving disaster relief funding to religious organizations, rather than to people and communities,” Alison Gill, legal and policy director of American Atheists, said according to the organization’s statement. “This is a jaw-dropping abrogation of the government’s obligation to protect taxpayers from being forced to directly fund religious activities with their tax dollars. This illegal change in policy would, for the purpose of disaster relief, deem religious worship an essential government-type service.”
Christian non-profit organizations proved indispensable, however, in relief efforts to local governments and to FEMA in the wakes of hurricanes Irma and Harvey and outdid FEMA in providing the vast majority of aid to their surrounding communities. Church volunteers and religious non-profit organizations, who served at no cost to their local governments, translated into billions of dollars worth of free aid to their states, since the volunteers count toward the states’ required matching of FEMA’s funds. Those same religious organizations, such as Convoy of Hope, and houses of worship, also set up response stations and distribute aid at FEMA’s request.
FEMA’s 2018 policy change, made in light of SCOTUS’ Trinity Lutheran decision and a lawsuit from three Texas churches, ensures that houses of worship are eligible for federal relief funds and are no longer “be singled out for disfavored treatment within the community centers subcategory of [public assistance] nonprofit applicants.”
“FEMA can not do what it does so well without the cooperation of faith-based non-profit organizations and churches,” Rev. Jamie Johnson, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships, told USA Today. “It’s a beautiful relationship between government and the private sector and it is something to behold.”
Despite rendering invaluable, free aid, many churches damaged by natural disasters were left high and dry by FEMA and denied relief funds under the agency’s previous policies.
American Atheists argued, however, that churches do not provide “essential government-type services” and should therefore be satisfied with being eligible for federally subsidized loans and ineligible to receive federal relief funds for rebuilding.
“American Atheists will continue to monitor the implementation of this policy change and will consider all remedies available to prevent taxpayer money going directly to houses of worship— without accountability or transparency—in order to further their religious activities,” the organization’s statement reads. http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/04/atheist-group-upset-fema-will-help-churches-rebuild-after-disasters/
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If Churches paid taxes then I'd accept their eligibility for federal aid. As it is, they pay nothing in taxes that go to support these federal assistance programs so I find it hard to understand why they would demand money from them. They can't have it both ways, they already get a huge windfall from not having to pay any taxes and they are not an essential service to a community. And interestingly, Christian Churches have exactly the same track record of answered prayers as any other religion including Islam, which is also the same track record as placebos, so you're just as likely to be healed by a sugar pill as you are a prayer. Might as well federally finance sugar pills being handed out to devastated communities and tell them it's a cure all, it's cheaper than rebuilding a Church where people get invisible sugar pills.
Using this logic any person or entity not paying taxes should not receive any state or federal aid. Bye, bye all homeless shelters for example.
A church isn't a person with rights, and we have a constitutional separation of church and state.
Fail.
A church is full of people with rights, people who pay taxes.
Unlike a homeless shelter which is also full of people with rights but they generally aren't paying taxes and are most certainly not paying property taxes.
Any entity - person, church, business, organization - has certain rights, privileges, and responsibilities. I'm sure you wouldn't want the church to be allowed to shirk its responsibilities. Yet you seek to exclude it from rights and privileges. Your approach is evidently more about hate than fairness.
A church, like a business, is full of people, but neither are people in their own right. A church doesn't have a birth certificate, a heartbeat and doesn't die like a citizen does. They are both legal creations.
The SCOTUS disgrees with you. Reynolds v. US and the Lemon Test.
If the church paid taxes then they would be entitled to FEMA help but they don't, so why should they get FEMA money to rebuild? The fact that they are not a person and we have a repetition of church and state must also be understood.
I don't hate churches or religion, despite your persecution complex.
A church is fundamentally poor. They don't really have an income like you'd normally think of it with a business. I guess if they were making and selling big screen TVs, it would be different, but most churches get whatever wealth they have from donations. You want to tax charitable donations now?
Then how else should we understand your irrational desire to tax an entity that survives on donations? If the Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion, why should the government leech whatever wealth is donated to the church?
Wow, I'd like to be poor like that,
All of it tax free too.
There is no free stuff, so put away the Fox News strawman. Those programs are paid for by taxes for the benefit of the people.
I'm not a Pat Robertson fan, but I assume he will pay income tax or go to jail, just like anybody else.
The church benefits from the infrastructure around the church such as roads, water, sewer and power lines, plus fire, EMS and police protection and yet it refuses to pay for these upgrades/service because of the property tax exemption. Stop being a leech and pay the taxes like everyone else does.
There is no constitutional right to have the government provide for you a place to worship in, nor is there a right to a religious leader or even a book if you cannot afford one. Your religious rights are the right to believe in or not to believe as you choose, and the right to worship as you see fit. There is no right for the government to physically provide you with anything for your religious worship. Even in prison, you do not have the right for the warden to provide you with a bible or any other religious needs.
If a group of like-minded believers cannot afford a church then I guess they either organize a bake sale or learn to meet in someones house or garage.
I like to laugh at your posts because of their wildly emotional claims. Skirting the CoC [ph]
In every article dealing with religion you come up with the same stuff.
You need some new material.
Not true. Prisoners have a right to have their religious needs met and have access to appropriate religious publications.
They have the right to pray and to worship within the necessary security, but the government does not provide them with a bible or other religious items. That is done by outside churches that minister to prisoners. Often there is no formal chapel but just a multipurpose room or a classroom that is used for multi-denominational services.
I only need to learn and understand facts once.
I am laughing at your many mistakes and illogical arguments.
skirting the CoC [ph] because you lack the ability to question your own beliefs and ideas, so you are unable to see how wrong that you are.
Prisoners can ask for and receive both halal and kosher meals. Bibles and korans are available and passed out by the chaplains offices. Religious dress must be accommodated.
Obviously, the prison must accommodate their religious beliefs, such as diet and dress, within security limits. I never said otherwise.
I just found this. The constitution is on my side because a federal judge in Texas refused to set aside a previous ban of FEMA money to churches because of the church-state separation. The POTUS cannot overrule the federal courts, even with an executive order because of the Constitution's checks and balances.
I have a federal judge on my side. You have the ravings of a lunatic POTUS and religious belief.
Where are the churches national originations to help them rebuild because these churches do not exist on their own? The national organization issues statements on beliefs and they also must be responsible for the financial actions. They need to pay for the costs of the individual churches did not have the proper insurance to cover the damage. They need to be fiscally responsible for their property.
Attempting to attack my intelligence is the only thing that you have.
You lost the arguement when you chose to do that.
The judge made the statement that funding the churches with FEMA money is an issue of church and state and referred it to a higher federal court for a ruling. That doesn't look good for the church's case or the Beckett legal group that is representing them.
The American Humanists also agree with me.
You said
The governmen does have to provide prisoners bibles, korans and other religious items.
Food and clothing are not specific religious items.
The higher court has not ruled on the issue. It takes time.
This is the link to the statement aboiut the judge sending it up the stream.
They tell the prisoner to ask the Chaplain/Minister/Priest/Rabbi/Iman etc. and he would provide it to them.
And who does that Chaplai/Minister/Priest/Rabbi/Imam work for? Thats right they work for the prison system.
Will these churches and non-profits be subject to federal audits if they accept the grants?
Amazing. Do these people even hear it when they say it? Or when it's published? They're effectively declaring that religious organizations - i.e. churches - are not part of "people and communities."
They hate what they don't understand. The church is not the building or a bureaucracy. The church is the community - a community of believers. Our church meets in a facility we rent from a big pharmaceutical company. I know another local church that meets in a movie theater. More broadly, the church is the worldwide community of believers.
I'll say it again: The church is the community.
So you're happy to use the church facilities in an emergency, but you don't want help them afterward. Perhaps only a group of atheists could be so selfish.
Wow, didn't I just recently see you bitching about 'bootstraps' and not taking government handouts? Care to explain? Why do you like it when churches take government handouts?
So you can't answer my question. I never said what I thought about it, by the way, you just assumed. I specifically asked why you think its ok for handouts now.
For twenty years, the federal government and local churches have been working together for the benefit of many. I'm sure this drives the atheists nuts, but it has been maybe the most efficient way to distribute charity because it takes advantage of the strengths of each partner. It's called the Faith Based Initiative. It was first signed into law by Bill Clinton and continued and enhanced by each president since then. Of course the Bill Clinton of the 90s couldn't get elected Dog Catcher in today's Democratic Party.
Two Decades of Bipartisan Cooperation on Government Funding and Religion . . . this can’t possibly be about the U.S.
If a church wants federal taxpayer dollars, then they need to pay taxes. Simple as that. They get over by NOT paying taxes, so why don't they rebuild using the tax dollars they don't have to pay in the first place?
Isn't FEMA helping any atheists?
I'm sure they are but, atheist pay taxes.
Yes, individually but, their churchs, Mosques or, Synagogues do not.
And yet bible-babbling cults still get special tax exemptions denied to all other non-profits, like the clerical housing exemption.
Only greedy bible-babblers would think that's OK.
With certain members their hate for Christianity far outweighs their concern for their fellow man. They will find every means possible to degrade.
But, I guarantee you if this was a mosque or temple they would be all for it.
They disgust me!
Why? Do you think most skeptics are against Christianity but for Islam?
Skeptics are not convinced that a god exists. That means Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, Zeus, Brahman, et.al. are considered, by skeptics, to be the products of human imagination (at least per the current state of evidence).
Could we identify at least one such individual and ask them if your presumption is true before delivering such condemnation?
You're kidding right?
Didn't we just witness that happen with our tax code? Oh yeah we did.
Far better to take it up with the courts rather than the Congress which enacted an unconstitutional law.
BTW, your ilk seems to be losing in the courts on this matter.
Prisoners can ask for and receive both halal and kosher meals. Bibles and korans are available and passed out by the chaplains offices. Religious dress must be accommodated.
That is because they are members of a state paid for vacation. Not the same thing.
I actually don't have a problem helping religious organizations with FEMA money, so long as they can prove that they did charitable work within the community at large. Help those who help others.
No problem. As long as they're not built to code and they use Chinese building materials. Aren't there any double wide FEMA churches available?