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• On the Blog Post African Americans Remain Few in the Northern Suburbs

  Overbite

  2:20 pm on Thursday, February 23, 2012

  Hey, no one is opposed to private education, as long as the public isn't billed for it, which would seem to be the definition of "private." The fact that religious institutions are tax exempt is already a generous subsidy, and to increase government support would be to invite government control of a pillar of civil society. The founding fathers understood this, and that is why we do not have an established church in the US -- to protect both religion and state from a mutually compromising entanglement. It is the mark of a wingnut to want it both ways -- i.e., less government "interference," more ideological control.

  The Interfaith Housing Center is not a seminary, it is a group dedicated to enforcing the fair housing laws passed almost 50 years ago, which are still routinely flouted. It is allied with several dozen congregations in the area that do not share the last respondent's tribal view of religion. They understand that faith without a hunger for justice is just selfish superstition, akin to whistling gaily past the homeless shelter, knowing that one's own soul is saved. By supporting Interfaith over the last several decades, these congregants are attempting to make their faith real. They know that the organization does good work, and is committed to making this corner of the world a better place. That does not strike me as fraudulent or phony -- which, by the way, is not spelled with an "e," as most public school students and graduates would know.

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