On Friday, April 19th there was a very eye opening debate in the Minnesota state Senate over whether the state should cut off funding to Teen Challenge the most effective drug and treatment program in the state and a biblical, Christian based organization.
During the debate, the organization was attacked for their Christian beliefs. Senator Dibble attacked them for being anti-gay because they support the biblical understanding of marriage and sexual behavior. Senator Bonoff said they had hateful materials on their website.
Basically the message is if your organization is motivated by Christian convictions, you are ineligible to work with the state. But if you have secularist ideas and philosophy, you're welcome and embraced by the dispensers of our tax payer dollars.
They'd rather fund unsuccessful programs than, goodness knows, fund a program which works and is Christian based. A form of religious discrimination you might say.
The debate has clear implications over efforts to redefine marriage. If marriage is redefined, groups which subscribe to man, woman marriage will be excluded from a wide range of government programs and initiatives totally unrelated to marriage. "Go the back of the bus" you proverbially might say or rather "get off the bus." And will it stop with Christian programs? At what point will it extend to individuals who have Christian, biblical belief systems?
You can listen to the floor debate here. It's about an hour long discussion. It's on Friday, April 19th and starts at the 57 minute mark.
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