OVO

Robyn Blumner reports for the St. Petersburg Times: “Thanks to President Bush and his plan to Christianize the nation’s provision of social services, one’s relationship with Jesus Christ has become a real resume booster. As author Michelle Goldberg reports in her new book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Bush has ushered in affirmative action for the born- again. In 2005 alone, more than $2-billion in federal tax money went to faith-based programs for such services as job placement programs, addiction treatment and child mentoring. Overwhelmingly, this money went to groups affiliated with Christian religions.

“This reallocation of social service money from secular agencies to religiously affiliated programs has also resulted in shifting employment opportunities. But some of these new employers have a shocking job requirement – only Christians need apply. Goldberg cited the publicly funded Firm Foundation of Bradford, Pa., as a blatant example. The group provides prison inmates with job training, something one would think any trained professional could do. Well, think again. According to Goldberg, the group posted an ad for a site manager. It said that the applicant must be ‘a believer in Christ and Christian Life today, sharing these ideals when the opportunity arises.’ Apparently, experience and qualifications are secondary.”

Rachel Zoll reports for St. Louis Today: “Billions of dollars has been stolen in religion-related fraud in recent years, says the North American Securities Administrators Association, a group of state officials who work to protect investors. Between 1984 and 1989, about $450 million was stolen in religion-related scams, the association says. In its latest count – from 1998 to 2001 – the toll had risen to $2 billion. And since then, rip-offs have only become more common.”

[All money spent on religion is money wasted, wasted more thoroughly than money spent on weapons or torture. At least when someone is killed or tortured, something happened. Religions does nothing for anyone, it never has and it never will. All those good deeds done in the name of religion are just religion jumping the claim of secular goods. Medicine, shelters, education, not a one of these comes about by "prayer" but every one of them comes about through science, reason and effort. Whatever a person wants to do with their private property is their business, or there is no such thing as private property. If a person wants to dig a big hole and burn a billion dollars of their own money in it to please the nostrils of an invisible monster that lives in the sky, have fun. But when tax dollars are spent on religion - and religion has no oversight - it is time and past time to bring up that uncomfortable United States Constitution thing and its legal presumption of atheism. - Trevor Blake]