By SECULAR COALITION FOR AMERICA - SECULAR.ORG
Added: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:38:44 UTC

link to original article- Reauthorization of D.C. Vouchers Violates Separation of Church and State

The Secular Coalition for America needs your help.

Recently, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Senator Joe Lieberman announced plans to re-authorize a federally funded voucher program in Washington, D.C. that forces every U.S. taxpayer to subsidize private religious schools that indoctrinate students and discriminate on the basis of faith.

More than 80 percent of the students in D.C.’s voucher program attend private faith-based institutions, such as the Anacostia Christian Bible School, which describes its purpose as turning K-6 students “into an army by reconciling them to God by making warriors for Christ and to each other through worship, prayer, preaching, fellowship, and teaching.”

The Secular Coalition for America is lobbying members of Congress to oppose voucher programs that allow these types of schools to receive taxpayer funds, in clear violation of the principles of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Studies have shown that many students leave the voucher programs because they feel uncomfortable with religious activities at school and are not given an opt-out option.

If you or anyone you know has enrolled a child in a private religious school through the Washington, D.C. voucher program and taken the child out because the parent or child was uncomfortable with the school’s religious activity, please contact Mike Meno, SCA’s communications manager, at mike@secular.org.

If Speaker Boehner and Senator Lieberman get their way, federally funded vouchers for private religious schools could spread all throughout the country.

We need to stop this blatant discrimination and show Congress how vouchers harm real people.

If you or anyone you know has been affected, please let us know.

Thank you!

TAGGED: ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE, POLITICS