plonq | Church and state

The talking heads on CJOB - whose morning show has a pretty profoundly right-leaning editorial slant - have been frothing over the news that our provincial government is baulking at the idea of endorsing, or giving money to the organization Youth For Christ. The issue that the province has is that even if the group does arguably good work in the inner city, they are a fundamentalist Christian group whose mandate includes proselytizing the kids. The province does not argue that the group does otherwise good work, but that the government has no business funding a religious organization of this type.

I agree. Channelling tax dollars to this organization to build their centre is one step removed from using government money to build churches.

I also wonder if these vocal supporters would be just as adamant if the group was called Youth For Satan, or Youth For Islam. Would they be as supportive if the organization had no religious affiliation at all, and part of its mandate was to teach kids to be self-reliant and not count on supernatural assistance in life?