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The cost (financially and ethically) of policing those things is not worth the cost of accepting them. I am not advocating a police state where every transactio

The cost (financially and ethically) of policing those things is not worth the cost of accepting them. I am not advocating a police state where every transaction is monitored. Instead, I am promoting individual freedom--the freedom for people to spend their money on only their own religion (if any). You keep using the word "distasteful" as though this is an issue of style instead of substance. It isn't; freedom of religion and the separation of church and state fundamental to our democracy.

grandalf 18y ago
You didn't answer my question, though. It would seem that in theory you would oppose (or find offensive) the bake sale example, even if you didn't advocate enforcement. The question is, if I pay taxes and someone gets a school voucher or tax rebate, have they violated my freedom of religion by spending it at a Church? That seems to be the essence of your argument and I want to be sure I am clear on it. Please also note the US constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". So you would have to argue that by giving the recipient of the school voucher or tax rebate freedom to spend it at a church, congress has attempted to establish a state religion or prevent free exercise thereof.
- briansmith 18y ago
  Items at a church bake sale are usually marked up to extreme levels. Purchasing these overpriced goods is not fiscally responsible. Anytime our tax money is wasted we should be offended. You bring up a good point; maybe allowing people to use tax rebates for parochial schools is illegal. I can't say for sure as I don't understand the law enough.
  - grandalf 18y ago
    It's a slippery slope... should government employees (whose salaries are paid by taxpapers) be allowed to buy goods at church bake sales? Should people be allowed to buy goods at church bake sales with the proceeds from US Government Savings Bonds? Should recipients of Federally subsidized student loans be allowed to use some of that loan money to buy church bake sale goods? These are all (in my opinion) equally absurd examples, yet they are perfectly analogous to your objection to vouchers being spent at parochial schools.
    - briansmith 18y ago
      In all your examples, the person receiving the cash either earned it (bonds, government employees) or will pay for it (student loans). A voucher is a gift from the government (taxpayers) to an individual. That's the key difference. Usually, people earn their cash. When they earn it, we don't get to control what they do with it. In fact, we don't even get to know what they spend it on. That is the beautiful thing about cash. To restrict people from spending their money on their religion illegally restricts their expression of their religion. When feasible, the government shouldn't be giving cash to people who didn't earn it. That is a core principle of welfare and that is why we have WIC, food stamps, government-subsidized housing, and school vouchers. It isn't feasible to have coupons for everything so we have to give people cash for some things.

grandalf 18y ago

You didn't answer my question, though. It would seem that in theory you would oppose (or find offensive) the bake sale example, even if you didn't advocate enforcement. The question is, if I pay taxes and someone gets a school voucher or tax rebate, have they violated my freedom of religion by spending it at a Church? That seems to be the essence of your argument and I want to be sure I am clear on it. Please also note the US constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". So you would have to argue that by giving the recipient of the school voucher or tax rebate freedom to spend it at a church, congress has attempted to establish a state religion or prevent free exercise thereof.

briansmith 18y ago
Items at a church bake sale are usually marked up to extreme levels. Purchasing these overpriced goods is not fiscally responsible. Anytime our tax money is wasted we should be offended. You bring up a good point; maybe allowing people to use tax rebates for parochial schools is illegal. I can't say for sure as I don't understand the law enough.
- grandalf 18y ago
  It's a slippery slope... should government employees (whose salaries are paid by taxpapers) be allowed to buy goods at church bake sales? Should people be allowed to buy goods at church bake sales with the proceeds from US Government Savings Bonds? Should recipients of Federally subsidized student loans be allowed to use some of that loan money to buy church bake sale goods? These are all (in my opinion) equally absurd examples, yet they are perfectly analogous to your objection to vouchers being spent at parochial schools.
  - briansmith 18y ago
    In all your examples, the person receiving the cash either earned it (bonds, government employees) or will pay for it (student loans). A voucher is a gift from the government (taxpayers) to an individual. That's the key difference. Usually, people earn their cash. When they earn it, we don't get to control what they do with it. In fact, we don't even get to know what they spend it on. That is the beautiful thing about cash. To restrict people from spending their money on their religion illegally restricts their expression of their religion. When feasible, the government shouldn't be giving cash to people who didn't earn it. That is a core principle of welfare and that is why we have WIC, food stamps, government-subsidized housing, and school vouchers. It isn't feasible to have coupons for everything so we have to give people cash for some things.