The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Stimulus Package No Stimulant for Christian Students

By Doug Carlson - Feb 17, 2009 - 7 -

The $787 billion stimulus package rushed through Congress late last week passes on a tab of nearly $10,000 to every American family in exchange for plenty of pork to fatten the national debt past $12 trillion. Yet even as this largest spending bill in U.S. history dishes out billions like Monopoly money for pet projects, its authors were careful to ensure that it does not in any way stimulate religious activity but instead discourages it.

Some 14,000 sections into the bill that rivals most dictionaries in sheer number of pages, a provision bars colleges and universities that receive funding for “modernization, renovation, or repair” of campus facilities from using those buildings in any way, shape, or form for “religious worship.”

While we do not support government funding of religion, that is not the issue in question. The policy is not a question of violating the First Amendment’s establishment clause of religion but rather an issue of upholding the free exercise clause. It is one thing for the government to say there cannot be college-sponsored worship, but it is quite another thing to deny students and faculty the freedom to engage in religious discussions in certain campus buildings.

Such a policy delivers a severe blow to Christian students. Bible studies that meet in college dorms or in classrooms before or after class hours could be terminated, as well as prayer groups or special events such as panel discussions with religious leaders. It also appears that the policy might discriminate against religious groups that want to rent a building for an event while favoring non-religious groups. Given the history of the courts, we have to fear that they will maximally rather than minimally apply this.

Many religious liberty hawks expect groups like the ACLU to slap hefty lawsuits on non-compliant universities. Faced with this prospect, many colleges that receive funding from the stimulus package may put an abrupt end to all such activities.

Congressional members who supported the overall package have little room to plead ignorance. Despite the fact that likely none of the 535 members of the House and Senate read the massive 1,073-page bill—they voted on it less than 24 hours after it was finalized—the provision on religious liberty on college campuses had been circulating in previous versions. The initial House-passed bill included it, and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) aired his concern throughout the debate in the Senate, even offering an amendment, which failed, to strike the language in a Senate version.

The massive debt placed upon the American people by the bill borrows from future generations. Add to that the fact that many economists say the legislation offers little prospect of significantly bettering the economy, and it is easy to view the stimulus package as an unethical sham. Yet it is made all the more worse by its provisions that may restrict students from gathering on college campuses to seek wisdom from the Giver of all truth.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to preserve religious liberty in America and across the world. If you would like to help us continue our fight to protect this freedom, please click here.

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