Lieberman calls for funds to fix up places of worship

New Haven Register ( Register guns, register religions, register...) ^ | December 18, 2001 | Christopher Hoffman

[the]

NEW HAVEN - Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., used a visit to a Winthrop Avenue Church Monday to call for using government funds to fix up historical churches, synagogues and mosques. Lieberman said it didn't make sense to restrict such aid to houses of worship that had been abandoned by their congregations. "We can't tell American history . . . without talking about the history of our sacred places," Lieberman said. "We can't have a strong future for our community without safeguarding the buildings (that are used for worship)." Lieberman made his statements while helping the nonprofit Partners for Sacred Places unveil a list of 10 historic houses of worship in dire need of repair. The announcement took place in the Omega Seventh-day Adventist Church at 278 Winthrop Ave., which was included on the group's Ten to Save List. It is the only Connecticut church on the list. The 1910 Greek revival building started out as a Christian Science church and then housed the Bikur Cholim synagogue. In 1992, Omega purchased the building and is struggling to make much-needed repairs. Lieberman recalled worshipping in the building during the late 1960s when it was a Jewish temple. "It's really quite nostalgic to be here," Lieberman said. Houses of worship on the list are in nine states and include a historic synagogue on New York's Lower East Side, a Roman Catholic Church in Dallas, and a United Methodist Church with Tiffany windows in a rundown section of Detroit. All of the congregations will have to end outreach programs if they can't do the much-needed repairs, said A. Robert Jaeger, co-director of the Partners for Sacred Places, which is based in Philadelphia. In Omega's case, the church needs a minimum of $1.23 million worth of work, including $200,000 for a new roof. There's no government program that the churches can apply for now, but President Bush's faith-based initiative, which is currently stalled in Congress, could ultimately provide the funds they're seeking. Lieberman made the argument Monday that the government could play a role helping houses of worship provide social services without violating separation of church and state. He noted that much more goes on in churches like Omega than religious services. "They are much more than that," Lieberman said. "They are anchoring centers of community service and moral leadership." The Rev. Charles E. Creech, the pastor at Omega, said his church, which is located in a poorer section of the city, would greatly expand its outreach programs if it could get money for repairs and improvements. The church would like to increase the size of its kitchen, build rooms for drug counseling and create a vocational training program, he said. Creech acknowledged he's concerned about the strings that governmental agencies might attach to such aid. He added a program could work as long as churches could continue to infuse their work with nondenominational spirituality. "People have a spiritual responsibility and recognition that moral problems need to be addressed and spiritual needs can be met," Creech said. "You can be religious, but you don't have to proselytize. You can be spiritual, but you don't have to direct them into a particular religion." Lieberman told an audience of about two dozen that a breakthrough on the president's faith-based initiative may come as early as later this week. Lieberman said he expected it to include a provision that would allow people to roll over their IRAs into charities without any tax liability. "That's the big one," he said. "That can provide millions and millions."

[the]

I thought that this surreal local item might be of interest to readers beyond the Nutmeg State. I searched and did not see it posted yet.

[Pearls Before Swine]

.... and mosques. Hasn't he been paying attention? No wait, there's votes to be bribed.

[the]

U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman
and Diane Cohen, co-director
of Partners for Sacred Places,
at the Omega Seventh-day Adventist
Church on Winthrop Avenue in New Haven
Monday. Mia M. Malafronte/Register

[steve50]

Take God out of the schools and put goverment in the church. He's got that backassward.

[camle]

I'm sorry, but I oppose giving government money to those who don't pay taxes. Come to think of it, I oppose giving government money away on anything.

[ppaul]

Lieberman calls for funds to fix up places of worship

Why not?

We're spemding millions dropping cakes out of airplanes in Afghanistan to celebrate Ramadan, aren't we?

[Phantom Lord]

Fix them up with private donations. End of story.

[Pilsner]

The National Park Service operates the Mission Parks in San Antonio, Texas, while the Catholic Church continues to operate the sanctuary in each Misssion as an active church.

http://hotx.com/missions/info.html

How the National Park Service runs ANY active church is beyond me. I must have been sick the day my Constitutional Law professor covered how the 1st Amendment forbids local schools from even allowing prayer, while allowing the U.S. Government to maintain and operate churches.

[RooRoobird14]

LIEberman is full of SH*T on this one. I hope the ACLU howls like stuck pigs and stops this cold. If LIEberman has his way, we will all get stuck paying to fix up a Louis Farrakkan "Mosque", a Worldwide Church of Satan "chapel", a Scientology resort, blah, blah, BLAH.

[ppaul]

US planes will drop 46,000lb of cake to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"We can't tell American history . . . without talking about the history of our sacred places"

It is far more important, IMHO, to talk about the religious component of American (especially immigrant) culture.

Firstly, it is a historical fact that Europe was "Christendom" at the time of the immigration of our Founding Fathers (or their ancestors).

Secondly, the map of percentage of various ethnic groups correlates with the percentages of corresponding religious affiliations.

The First Amendment is an artifact of the variety of Christian denominations in America which were strong enough to wield an effective veto over any federal established church--or federally established atheism, which now seems much more possible than the framers would then have believed.

[B-bone]

Fix them up with private donations. End of story.

Amen

[the]

Creech acknowledged he's concerned about the strings that governmental agencies might attach to such aid.

He added a program could work as long as churches could continue to infuse their work with nondenominational spirituality.

---

Hey, I just go reassigned to Master State Church # 4334.

It is on the other side of town, but no bother, the government says it will bus me there for free!

It seems that they don't have a proper ethnic mix over there, and my church has too many people that look like me.

Big Brother's Will Be Done

</sarcasm>

</tinfoil>

[Pearls Before Swine]

Re: US Planes droppint 46,000 pounds of cake

Do you think they remembered to use "all-vegetable" shortening?

[Puppage]

Wintrop Avenue...nice place.....if you're a bullet

[freeeee]

Why not?

1. First Amendment violation
2. 10th Amendment violation
3. Tax benefits provided to non-taxpayers
4. Sets exceedingly horrible precedent (taxpayers funding construction of churches)

"…to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards…"

- Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Raising money for the construcion of churches must always be a voluntary venture. NEVER must the metaphorical tax agent come to your door and say, "We're building/fixing a church. It doesn't matter if you share its religious convictions. PAY UP OR ELSE."

[the]

More CT wackiness.

[ppaul]

Yeah. That Jefferson quote oughta be posted everywhere!
But what about cakes for Ramadan?
(see #10 above.)

[freeeee]

But what about cakes for Ramadan?

Some may call that 'winning the hearts and minds' of the locals in a matter of national security.

But even if it isn't right, even if it isn't constitutional, it in no way justifies another wrong.

[ppaul]

More CT wackiness.

And how!
The land of Yale, the Alan Gutmacher Institute, Christopher Dodd, etc., etc., ad nauseaum.