The Government Gets into the Church-Rebuilding Business
The Atlantic’s Emma Green writes, “Rules on government money going to religious organizations are loosening, a shift that has consequences well beyond disaster aid and emergency management.” In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the congressional budget bill passed last week contained a provision for FEMA that says religious nonprofits cannot be excluded from disaster aid because of their religious nature. Green writes, “Those who favor stricter rules separating church and state have worried that this will open the way to government money supporting explicitly religious functions.”