Letter to Congress
I believe it is your duty and responsibility as my representative in congress to stop the president and his administration from destroying the wall of separation between church and state.
I’ve read in the last few days of the various departments, Health and Human Services leading the way but with many followers, rewriting there administrative rules to do what congress wisely wouldn’t. They are attempting to allow religious organizations to compete for federal contracts to a greater extent than is already possible. This is a mistake that needs to be corrected. Given the Free Exercise clause of the first amendment it isn’t clear that these contracts can be overseen or expectations enforced in any meaningful way.
You need to question these administrative changes , hold hearings, and stop them from proceeding.
I was reading yesterday about Nazareth House in The New Zealand Herald yesterday. If you haven’t heard about it, it was an orphanage run by a religious organization receiving money from the Australian government to provide faith based services. I trust the parallels are apparent.
Residents of that and similar orphanages were raped, assaulted and abused by priests and nuns. Examples given include the 11 year old who had a nun rape her with a flagstick to “get the devil out.” She was also forced to drink urine, eat feces and rotting fish covered in maggots. She is not alone 17 other women have logged very similar complaints in the Australian courts.
I don’t bring this to your attention with regards to the church pedophilia scandal (which is an educational issue in its own right) but over what I fear is a prophetic paragraph in the article I read. I include the paragraph in it’s entirety.
“To save money, the State encouraged Church orphanages and it also believed a religious upbringing was as close to Christian family life as possible. Government supervision was minimal and, Forde said, bland official reporting on conditions was probably designed to avoid antagonising a cheap service provider.”
The New Zealand Herald, “When Child Cruelty Reigned,” by Greg Anley, 8/31/2002
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=2352086&thesection=news&thesubsection=world
The list of systemic cruelty and abuse is prodigious, ranging from the rapes above, to cultures of cruelty and humiliation to children scavenging grass and garbage bins to get enough food. I could list them all but I really don’t have the stomach for it. They are all in the article.
Think about that carefully if and when charitable choice, faith based service providers (or one of its clones) comes before you again. Think about it carefully as the president signs executive orders enacting it without your consent. Will there be actual supervision of these contracts or will churches claim Free Exercise and special exceptions. We are learning of the many loopholes and exceptions crafted for churches over the years from tax to zoning to civil rights. I am not prepared to trust that the government will be in a position to legally supervise churches as they spend tax payer money.
For these reasons I believe it is essentially that the wall of separation be maintained and strengthened. You need to act now to stop the administration from creating our own Nazareth House. The wall serves the both the churches and the government. More importantly is serves the people.
As my representative I hope you will keep these this in mind in the future.