BesoMami

Sunday, December 10, 2006

'Religion for a Captive Audience' (NYT article)

Posted by Alex at 4:50 PM

I'd love to hear what you all think about this article in today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/business/10faith.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=9d0e1451cc709fc2&hp&ex=1165813200&partner=homepage

 

1 Comment:

1. Brett said...
   2:08 PM  
   For me, there are at least two different sets of questions raised by this article.
   
   First are questions regarding the separation of church and state. I'm pretty clear on how I feel about this--tax money should rarely be used to fund religious ventures. However, there are exceptions. For example, I'm thinking of the chaplain corps in the armed forces--this valuable resource is funded by tax dollars and would likely not be funded (sufficiently) by denominational bodies, if left to them.
   
   Second are questions of evangelization. Does the presence of evangelization mean that tax monies can't be used? That sounds reasonable, but I'd bet a lot that it is exceedingly difficult to define the limits of evangelization. Also, what's wrong with offering rewards of a religious nature for participation in religious events? I use to think it was anathema to "bribe" people into church with goodies or other perks. I'm not so sure any more. Who am I to declare that participants in religiuos events that I plan must have *pure* intentions, unsullied by vicious desire for personal gain? I'd much rather offer a carrot than a stick (or nothing). Obviously, moving this kind of transaction to a prison setting makes the whole thing a lot more complicated, and probably ill-advised. But, what if I tell people that if they come to my church program, they will receive x? Is that any worse than telling them that if they come to my church program, it means they must be instrinsically good people who participate in stuff without rewards? I'm not sure.

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