Religious Right Cheers Trump Push For Federal Agencies To Fund Religious Groups

[Initech]

President Trump again used the National Day of Prayer to position himself as a champion of religious liberty, speaking to supporters in the White House Rose Garden before signing an executive order directing federal agencies to work more closely with faith-based organizations and to remove barriers to government funding for religious groups. He said his faith initiative will “help ensure that faith-based organizations have equal access to government funding” and said that in solving great problems, “faith is more powerful than government, and nothing is more powerful than God.”

The new order eliminates and replaces references to not-explicitly-religious “neighborhood” or “community” groups that were included in Bush and Obama era programs. It also eliminates an Obama-era protection for individuals who might object to the religious mission of an organization funded with tax dollars to provide social services; agencies will no longer have to make sure that there are alternative providers for people seeking services. Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s Rachel Laser said the order is one more attempt by the Trump administration “to redefine religious freedom to mean the freedom to discriminate against those who do not share your religious beliefs.”

The effort was yet another move by the Trump administration to maintain solid support from conservative white evangelicals who helped put him in the White House and remain his most devoted followers.

“Faith & Freedom Coalition Rejoices,” declared the voter mobilization group founded by political operative Ralph Reed. Tim Head, the group’s executive director, praised Trump, saying the president has once again “delivered on his promises to the faith community with the formation of a White House office to organize the federal government to work alongside faith-based organizations to deliver more effective solutions to poverty, protect religious liberty, and defend the sanctity of human life.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/religious-right-cheers-trump-push-for-federal-agencies-to-fund-religious-groups/

This is a terrible idea. An extremely terrible idea. Fuck Trump and religious fundamentalists!

[Ohiogal]

1. Um .... "separation of church and state"???

It's bad enough that our tax money pays for vouchers for kids to go to religion school .... these zealots just keep putting their hands out for more. Disgusting.

[Initech]

3. They want government handouts while denying government handouts for everyone else. Ironic.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Is Trump saying God is more POWERFUL than he is?

Doesn't sound right to me....

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. If he could he would mandate all public schools teach Christianity and so on

Soon he will be able to after the constitutional convention, since most of us are worried about pure candidates.

[Initech]

5. The absolute scariest thing about this administration is...

That he has allowed the Christian right to basically move into the White House, stay there, and act like they own the place. We had a barrier for over 200 years keeping these psychopaths from the highest levels of government, now they're literally trying to merge church and state. If people aren't more terrified by this, they aren't paying attention. Fuck the Christian right.

[Eliot Rosewater]

6. People must not care since MANY of us are FAR more concerned that Kamala Harris didnt

do exactly what they wanted sometime in the past.

[Kittycow]

7. Constitutional issues aside....

I dearly hope that mosques and Islam madrasas line up quickly and publicly to get their fair share of funding.

I'd like to see how that would play out, although I imagine they would have to sue the trump administration to get it.

[rurallib]

8. I hope religious of all stripes - from snake handlers to pagans line up

with their hands out.

And if there was an angle that atheists could finagle then let them join in.

This sounds much more like religious tyranny that religious liberty.

[tanyev]

9. They OK with government funding for Islamic groups, too?

[MrsCoffee]

10. And Trump wipes his ass with the Constitution again.

Fuck them.

[sarcasmo]

11. Handmaids isn't far off with Republican Jesus.