Supporting Civil Rights for Atheists and the Separation of Church and State

Mar

2011

ACTION ALERT: Bill Seeks to Restore Voucher Scheme, Taxpayer Subsidy for Religious Schools

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AMERICAN ATHEISTS ACTION ALERT...

BILL SEEKS TO RESTORE VOUCHER SCHEME, TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS...

Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Boehner would restore funding to a controversial vouch program, and permit subsidies for private -- and mostly parochial -- schools.

Dubbed the "Opportunity Scholarship Program," the measure seeks to continue an experiment in Washington, DC to provide grants of up to $7,500 for parents of over 1000 students that may be redeemed for tuition. The program would operate for five years in its initial phase, and cost approximately $500 million. OSP is a bellwether experiment, and will affect similar efforts across the country to essentially "de-fund" the cash-strapped public schools, and revitalize the nation's declining parochial and other religious schools. There is also the prospect that the so-called "scholarships" will be used for tuition at madrassahs and "Islamic academies."

CONGRESS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU NOW!

This measure, HR 471, is currently in a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight. A mirror version is being promoted in the U.S, Senate. Right now, however, our representatives need to hear from concerned citizens about the dangers of this bill.

Studies on the effect of vouchers and so-called "scholarships" are often misleading. While students who receive such scholarships often perform better than their public school counterparts, the public schools cannot "pick and choose" which students to accept. Public schools must be open to all as part of a wider vision to promote universal education.
Voucher schemes are misleadingly promoted as a way to improve failing public schools through "competition. The effect, however, is just the opposite -- public schools, already the victims of severe budget cuts, are deprived of essential funding. When these schools are closed, children suffer; they are often transferred to other distressed and under-funded public schools, resulting in larger class sizes and related problems.
There are nagging constitutional problems with OSP and other voucher experiments. In case after case, the only "alternatives" parents receiving these vouchers have is to send their youngster to a religious school. Courts have struck down these programs, admitting that they are simply a ruse to promote religious training. The fact that in some cases a "secular alternative" is required does not alter the fact that taxpayer money is being used to benefit religious schools.

LET CONGRESS HEAR FROM YOU NOW

Lawmakers need to hear from us now about this controversial and possibly even unconstitutional bill. We urge you to phone, fax, and write your representative.

To get started, visit the House of Representatives web site and locate your congressional representative. All have a CONTACT page which you may use for sending an e-mail; and they provide information like fax numbers and addresses for "snail mail," which often has greater impact.
Be polite, concise and to the point. Tell your representative that you are concerned about the impact HR 471 and similar programs can have on our nation's public school system.
Point out that as an atheist, you do not want your money to fund religious schools if any kind, from "Christian academies," to Islamic madrassahs.
Be sure to include your name in your e-mail or letter. Be sure to ask for a response to your concerns.
Learn more about the problems with voucher schemes like the OSP.

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) / Sat, 03/05/2011 - 13:22

Dane, is this some kind of reverse psychology (although, I'm not quite sure which side you're trying to psychologize)?

All Federal spending on education is unconstitutional. This single fact is one of the greatest reasons to never put your faith in the Supreme Court.

Anonymous (not verified) / Sun, 03/06/2011 - 15:11

So much for West Point.

Anonymous (not verified) / Sun, 03/06/2011 - 18:54

geoih,

No it isn't some sort of reverse psychology. Governments have a long history over the last several thousand years of exacting more and more control over the lives of the people. Some people like that. The public school system today is not about teaching academics... it is about teaching social and civic things in order to create good subjects and not good citizens.

The private schools and homeschooling in this country dilute a lot of the effectiveness of the public education system because they give students a place to learn that is free of government influence or control. The Private schools will never be made illegal because this is also where the government leaders send their children

So...what to do in order to bring private schools under the control of the government?

Simple... fund them until they are dependent on the government. At that point the government can mandate curriculum. In this scenario the politicians can still get their children a quality education by sending them to higher end private schools that do not receive federal funding.

This is why I oppose voucher programs and I guess that puts me on the same side as the AA on this issue.

This is what the welfare system has done to the poorer classes in this country. It provides just enough sustenance to keep them fed, housed and clothed, but not enough to actually get them off of the system. The class has raised several generations on welfare so that the children haven't known anything but government handouts. This destroyed the impetus for these children to take risks, sacrifice and strive to excel and insures yet another generation of people who will vote the rulers back into power. The lower classes have become so dependent on welfare that for the most part they cannot get off of it without going cold turkey.

The Catholic Church is pro-life and anti-gay marriage. They are anti-birth control and other things. The gov't extended medicaid and medicare to them and they used that money to expand services. Now that Obamacare stands posed to overtake the entire healthcare system, they will be able to mandate that Catholic hospitals perform abortions as well as gender reassignment surgeries and etc that go against the religious positions of the church.

But... they hospitals havebecome so dependent on the government money that they cannot afford to turn down the money.

So... the government has a history of doing this and the voucher program is nothing more that medicaid for education.

Because of that, I am against the voucher programs.

Anonymous (not verified) / Sun, 03/06/2011 - 15:10

...thousands and thousands of public schhool students would go to the private religious schools…. so much so that the bulk of the budgets for the school would be federal tax dollars…. then at that point the religious school is DEPENDENT on the federal gov’t just like the local public school.

...but the effects wouldn't just be turning private schools into public schools. The shell game of calling them "private" would allow the re-segregation of the schools and allow administrators to force compulsory religious participation on the students. Both are the current state of affairs at religious schools, which is part of what many of the parents pay for. That's the real goal, of course. I can't count how many old white religious conservatives I've heard say words to the effect of "it all went downhill when the liberals banned school prayer and made the blacks go to regular schools!."

Anonymous (not verified) / Sat, 03/05/2011 - 04:28

I'm sort of against the voucher program in a way too, believe it or not. You see, what the AA doesn't seem to have thought of is that with the money goes the influence and power. At this point, the relatively few students receiving private, religious education on the gov'ts dime has very little effect on the budgets of the religious schools.

But, if you people would wake up and support the voucher program then thousands and thousands of public schhool students would go to the private religious schools.... so much so that the bulk of the budgets for the school would be federal tax dollars.... then at that point the religious school is DEPENDENT on the federal gov't just like the local public school.

It is at that point that thegov't can truly control--- I mean "provide," universal public education by levying influence over the curriculum of the classrooms in private schools also.

This has already happened with Medicaid, Medicare in the Catholic hospital systems. A large portion of thier income is from medicare and medicaid. Now with the Obamacare there are serious ethical and philosophical issues with the services that Obamacare provides and the edicts of the Church. The Catholic hospitals can't afford to reject the federal money, but now it comes with strings that violate the Church's teachings.

If you "ists" weren't so quick to reject all things religious then you'd actually develop a strategy and do something besides sit around, drinking beer and belching out Nietzsche and Voltaire quotes.

Anonymous (not verified) / Sat, 03/05/2011 - 06:06

But, if you people would wake up and support the voucher program then thousands and thousands of public schhool students would go to the private religious schools

WTF?

It is at that point that thegov’t can truly control— I mean “provide,” universal public education by levying influence over the curriculum of the classrooms in private schools also.

Oh geez - the conspiracy's afoot!

Now with the Obamacare there are serious ethical and philosophical issues with the services that Obamacare provides and the edicts of the Church.

Such as? Oh, & what's your problem w/Obama?

The Catholic hospitals can’t afford to reject the federal money, but now it comes with strings that violate the Church’s teachings.

Why what on earth could those be?

If you “ists” weren’t so quick to reject all things religious then you’d actually develop a strategy and do something besides sit around, drinking beer and belching out Nietzsche and Voltaire quotes.

Is that what those nice quiet atheist friends of yours do, or are you just making shit up?

Anonymous (not verified) / Mon, 03/07/2011 - 04:18

Well Again Chris, I agree with that. You and I would disagree on whether religious education was necessary but I agree that it would be a part of the curriculum. It would be a great for of evangelism for us in the church... so why are so many Christians against the voucher program?

Because we see that although it would be great financially and evangelically in the beginning that it would be disastrous for us in the end. Like I've said, the schools wouuld get dependent on the money and then, like always, the government become more and more influential until they eventually controlled the private schools. This is what also happened to the public school systems.

The removal of prayer that you hear people talk about is not as much of an issue as you hear in pop culture. Neither is the integration-- both of which I don't have the slightest problem with.

The problem (in my humble opinion) is that you have bureaucrats in Washington who make decisions on curricula, standards and etc for systems at the local levels. No Child Left Behind is a perfect example.

Now, NCLB isn't a mandate like racial integration. In all reality, a system can not adhere to NCLB and keep right on teaching hhowever they see fit in those areas.... but the catch is that they will not get any Federal Aid to Education dollars. They don't have to run their systems in accordance with the standards and guidelines of the Dept of Education...but they don't get money from them if they don't.

Also, the speed limits on the interstates and highways... the states can set speed limits at whatever they wish. They don't have to follow the Dept of Transportation's guidelines... unless they want to receive federal highway dollars. If the states want to receive federal highway dollars then they set the speed limits, drinking ages and DUI Laws at whatever the Federal gov't tell them to set them at.

This is the method and history of the federal gov't.... go in to "help them." Then get them drunk on the flow of free m oney that we simply print up.... then when they are hooked on the free money youcan tell them how to march.

This is why so many Christians are against the voucher program. It is simply the latest manifestation of this process.

If you atheists were really interested in preventing the children from being "brainwashed" into the "myth" then you would support vouchers. Sure... in the first decade or two there would be collateral damage when thousands of children were converted to the religion, whether it be CHristianity, Islam or whatever... but then the gov't could slowly remove religious instruction from the classroom and do away with it altogether.

Anonymous (not verified) / Mon, 03/07/2011 - 08:37

Qoute from Dane: "… but then the gov’t could slowly remove religious instruction from the classroom and do away with it altogether."

I think you're assuming that government will always seek to remove "religion" from their schools. There is no guarantee that will be the case. In fact I think we could guarantee that government would require that all school teach the religion of statism.

Anonymous (not verified) / Mon, 03/07/2011 - 18:19

Good point geoih, but you'd have to argue the concept that it is a religion. Some say that socialism is a religion but some dismiss that idea. Ultimately though the gov't has always been at war with any religion or philosophy that doesn't create allegiance to the state.

Anonymous (not verified) / Mon, 03/07/2011 - 21:19

Anonymous (not verified) / Tue, 03/08/2011 - 05:00

There is more to life and language that Googling up the Online Etymological Dictionary. If scholarship was simply a matter of googling up something then we could shut down the world's universities.

FOrtunately, that is not the case.

Religion is a very difficult word to define and there is no true consensus among linguists as to its absolute meaning. Post-modernists hold that this is true of all words because words are merely symbols. Personally, I do not agree with them, but that is what they believe.

What they believe though is partially true because there is more to defining a word than Googling. First you have an original meaning. Then that meaning is adjusted by different cultures and it is added to by them. Then we arrive in whatever the modern time is and that word may mean something completely different to the modern ear.

Then some cultures completely invent words... like "Google."

Anyway, the word religion essentially means "that which binds us together." This can be true of a supernatural belief as it is usually used in the modern era, but it can also be true of something that has nothing supernatural at all.

I know people who work out religiously. (I'm not one of them, of course.) They study different fitness methods, they order their diet accordingly, their life revolves around fitness and their friendships are seriously affected by it. They work out religiously.

I know people who follow sports religiously. They decorate their homes religiously. They watch games religiously. They wear certain clothing. They rush out of church on Sunday in order to catch the game. (That's a double religion, huh?)

Any group that gathers around a common theme can accurately be said to be religious although they may not hold a supernatural element at all.

In that context, socialism is said to be a religion.

Also Kryst, before you go to Wiki and Google again, my degree involved intense study of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. That doesn't make me superman or anything, but ancient linguistics is something I know a little more about than you can Google up.

Anonymous (not verified) / Tue, 03/08/2011 - 09:02

There is more to life and language that Googling up the Online Etymological Dictionary. If scholarship was simply a matter of googling up something then we could shut down the world’s universities.

We need to agree on the general meanings of words before a premise can be posited. Re-defining the consensual definition is Loki's wager (which I'd link to, but you refuse to take anything off the internet).