Religion and politics:

From the Washington Post: (excerpts)

Bush Presses 'Faith-Based' Agenda

     President Bush repealed and proposed several regulations yesterday to make it easier for religious charities to receive federal money, including allowing such groups to make hiring decisions based on job candidates' faith.
     The announcements were the most significant steps so far in Bush's plan to pursue his "faith-based" initiative through administrative power after encountering congressional resistance to doing so through legislation.
     "In any employment decision, there's discrimination," said Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "Universities hire smart people."
     Bush finalized four changes he had proposed earlier, including delineating the boundary for religious content of federally funded social-service programs. The administration bars federal money from use for "inherently religious activity such as worship, religious instruction or proselytization."
     Ira C. Lupu, an authority on religion and the Constitution at George Washington University Law School, said the regulations could make it easier for charities to push the boundary of how much religious content is allowed. "These regulations might not preclude funding for a substance-abuse program that includes religious inspiration for its participants," Lupu said. "They might say you want to motivate them with lessons from the Bible."
     Bush also proposed changing six rules, including a Justice Department regulation in a way that would allow religious entities to receive forfeited assets, most crucially real estate, under the same restrictions that apply to secular groups.

First of all, the fact that "universities hire smart people", and thus discriminate, is no justification for discrimination on other grounds - in this case on religious grounds. Or are we now free to discriminate based on race and gender?

Second. What's this about forfeited assets? Are religious groups stepping up to get a drug-runner's plane or boat? We'd like to know more about this aspect of the story.

UPDATE: The White House has a full page on this topic, with comments from three cabinet members

And it appears from this White House 'fact sheet' that the forfeited assets rule is not pernicious.

posted by Quiddity at 9/23/2003 07:59:00 AM