Catholic Charities Issue

[Hamilton02 at aol.com]

What this dispute re: Catholic Charities illustrates is the danger of  any 
religious institution in relying upon government funding for its  programs.  
Government funding always comes with strings.  In general,  Catholic Charities 
gets 86% of its funding from government sources, 14% from  private, with the 
vast majority of that coming from charities like United  Way.  A tiny portion is 
paid by Catholics.  I would assume that  on its own dime, CC can facilitate 
adoptions, but feel free to correct that  assumption.  
 
The question is whether it is going to accept the condition placed on it by  
the government's money.  CC is not required to take the government's  money, 
right?  This is the Solomon Amendment -- private institution  that has become 
dependent on government largesse insists that it is entitled to  that largesse 
and that the government should have no power to place strings on  the money.  
There is no First Amendment problem and certainly no  "substantial burden" 
under RFRA.  If "substantial burden" means that  religious entities can force the 
government to give them money on their own  terms, we are quite literally on 
the other side of Alice's looking glass.
 
Marci
 
 
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