2002 Ron Paul 2:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join
the sponsors of the H. Res. 335 in honoring
the success of Catholic Schools in providing a
quality education to millions of children around
the country. However, I am concerned that
this resolution also contains language that violates
the spirit, if not the letter, of the establishment
clause of the first amendment, thus
insulting the millions of religious Americans
who are struggling to educate their children
free from federal control and endangering religious
liberty.
2002 Ron Paul 2:2
The success of Catholic schools has been
remarkable. Catholic schools operating in the
inner-city have been able to provide an excellent
education to students written off by the
educational establishment as “unteachable.”
Contrary to the claims of their critics, Catholic
schools do not turn away large numbers of
children in order to limit their enrollment to the
“best and the brightest.” In fact, a few years
ago the Archdiocese of New York offered to
enroll all students who had been expelled from
New York’s public schools! Mr. Speaker, I
have introduced legislation, the Family Education
Freedom Act (H.R. 368) which would
help more parents afford to send their children
to Catholic, or other religious schools, by providing
them with a $3,000 tax credit for K–12
education expenses.
2002 Ron Paul 2:3
While I join with the sponsors of this legislation
in praising Catholic schools, I am disturbed
by the language explicitly endorsing the
goals of the United States Catholic Conference.
The Catholic Conference is an organization
devoted to spreading and advancing
Catholicism. While the Conference may advance
other social goods through its work,
these purposes are secondary to its primary
function of advancing the Catholic faith. This is
especially true in the case of Catholic schools
which were founded and are operated with the
explicit purpose of integrating Catholic doctrine
into K–12 education.
2002 Ron Paul 2:4
Therefore, even though Congress intends to
honor the ways Catholic schools help fulfill a
secular goal, the fact is Congress cannot
honor Catholic schools without endorsing efforts
to promulgate the Catholic faith. By singling
out one sect over another, Congress is
playing favorites among religions. While this
does not compare to the type of religious persecution
experienced by many of the founders
of this country, it is still an example of the type
of federal favoritism among religions that the
first amendment forbids.
2002 Ron Paul 2:5
What is the superintendent of a Baptist private
school or a Pentecostal home schooler
going to think when reading this resolution?
That Congress does not think they provide
children with an excellent education or that
Congress does not deem their religious goals
worthy of federal endorsement? In a free republic
the legislature should not be in the business
of favoring one religion over another. I
would also like to point out the irony of considering
government favoritism of religion in the
context of praising the Catholic schools, when
early in this century Catholic schools were singled
out for government-sanctioned discrimination
because they were upholding the
teachings of the Catholic Church.
2002 Ron Paul 2:6
Allowing Congress to single out certain religions
for honors not only insults those citizens
whose faith is not recognized by Congress, it
also threatens the religious liberty of those
honored by Congress. This is because when
the federal government begins evaluating religious
institutions, some religious institutions
may be tempted to modify certain of their
teachings in order to curry favor with political
leaders. I will concede that religious institutions
may not water down their faith in order
to secure passage of “Sense of Congress resolutions,”
however, the belief that it is proper
to judge religious institutions by how effectively
they fulfill secular objectives is at the
root of the proposals to entangle the federal
government with state-approved religions by
providing taxpayer dollars to religious organizations
in order to perform various social services.
Providing taxpayer money to churches
creates the very real risk that a church may,
for example, feel the need to downplay its
teaching against abortion or euthanasia in
order to maintain favor with a future pro-abortion
administration and thus not lose its federal
funding.
2002 Ron Paul 2:7
Of course, the idea that politicians should
bestow favors on religions based on how well
they fulfill the aims of the politicians is one
that should be insulting to all believers no matter
their faith. After all, despite what a few of
my colleagues seem to think, Mr. Speaker, we
in Congress are neither omnipotent nor divine.
2002 Ron Paul 2:8
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I join the sponsors
of H. Res. 335 in their admiration for the
work of Catholic schools. However, I also
have reservations about the language singling
out the religious goals of one faith for praise.
