What should be our take-away from all this? Well, it should come as no surprise that for the last eight years the Bush Administration has been pulling out all the stops to lower our traditional barriers between church and state. And succeeding.
But arguably the credibility of the OLC decision should be informed by that office's recent history and twisted record. After all, why should we believe anything from the office that ruled it was OK for American investigators to use harsh interrogation techniques - torture, that is?
A ruling whose tortured logic will exact a price our country will be paying for decades.
But have faith; there's a light at the end of this dark tunnel. Two lights, to be exact. The first is that, in less than two months, the Bushies will be gone - and, with them, one of the most divisive administrations in our country's history. The second is that President-elect Obama has made it clear that, while he too will have a faith-based initiative, under no circumstances will it allow its beneficiaries to decide whom to hire on the basis of religion.
Faith-based organizations do a huge amount of good in our society. But they shouldn't be allowed to use our tax dollars to adopt an ideology contrary to the most basic tenets of their own faith in order to execute their programs.
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