Blog Stage 7

In blog stage 5 I discussed the House Bill 3859, which allows charities donating to child welfare programs to exercise their religious beliefs. Meaning they can deny providing funds because a adoption couple is seen as unfit. If they practice a different religious or are gay, they can refuse to provide funds. Rep. James Frank who introduced the bill says the bill is not meant to discriminate but to create a more diverse group of providers. Which doesn't even make sense in the first place because their "religious beliefs" only consist of Christianity. They're also discriminating gay couples which is the first option people go to for adoption. I think this whole bill is completely unnecessary, because they're not even focusing on the best interest of the children.  They just want to push their own personal agenda onto everyone. Jennifer Allmon, an executive director for the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops says some religious based providers are worried about providing for child welfare without the protection of the bill. The reason behind it is because a lot of providers have been faced with lawsuits for not taking the children to get abortions, or not providing a gay/lesbian couple with a child. Which proves everything I say, they're not looking out for themselves, not for the best interest of the child. The whole ideology behind church and state should be separate should be applied when dealing with politics. If you're holding an office you have to look out for the best interest of EVERYONE, not just the people you have the same beliefs as you.

Blog stage six

 I chose to comment on Barsha Pokharel who's blog is titled "Growing Interest towards Government." I did not know this about the government wanting to subsidize private school funds. I went to a charter school for middle and high school. It was smaller than your average public and private school, but it was still a good school. Charter schools have a harder time getting funding for them since they do not receive money from the state or from parents. They rely on donors a lot. In my personal opinion more funding does need to be invested in public schools. Do you think charter schools could maybe be a solution? I feel with the new secretary of education Betsy DeVos things will get worse regarding funds and public schools. I agree with you completely on the second program. I work and have to pay taxes, and it would make me feel better if I knew my taxes would actually help someone who needs it.

Child Welfare

House Bill 3859 has allowed faith-based providers stop providing donations to child welfare unless those people follow through with their religious belief. When I first read this I was so confused, what does the protection and care of a child have anything to do with these people's religious beliefs. The bill not only stops funding, but allows them to discriminate against foster couples, including gay couples and non-Christians. It would also allow other foster parents to push their own religious agenda on foster kids, and deny them abortions, vaccinations, etc. The foster care system is so broken in America, and more efforts need to be put into the kids themselves, not their religious beliefs. These kids need a home, family, and most importantly safety. This bill has already affected the foster system, Catholic charities have already stopped giving funds to help the foster care system in Texas. One social worker is concerned with fighting too much for these funds, she's concerned social workers will not actually focus on helping the kids. So many kids in America alone go through so much abuse and neglect. Whatever happened to church & state being separate. One adoptive parent accused the state, saying they used this bill as an excuse to cut funds rather than just follow their religious beliefs. In my opinion, don't preach about your religious agenda if you're just going to use it to do things that go completely against it. After all, what would Jesus do?