You may notice more religious-based posts in the future. I’m not going to solely focus on such things, but I think it’s good to have a driving force. AmericaBlog does the GLBT issues, I’ll go with religion.

Anyway, a group out of Wisconsin that I’ve only just heard of is mounting a defense against the massive funding Bush is pumping towards faith-based initiatives.

Next week, the group started by Gaylor and her mother in the 1970s to take on the religious right will fight its most high-profile battle when the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on its lawsuit against President Bush’s faith-based initiative.

The court will decide whether taxpayers can sue over federal funding that the foundation believes promotes religion in what could be a major ruling for groups that fight to keep church and state separate.

“What’s at stake is the right to challenge the establishment of religion by the government,” Gaylor said.

An argument that comes later in the article is that doing so will prevent money from going to groups who would be helping people. While a valid concern, I think it’s faulty for two simple reasons.

First off, these are not the only groups out there who help people. There are plenty of wholly secular groups who donate money and give their time and effort to helping people in need. Focusing on the ones who do so for Christ over others is an implicit endorsement of religion. The founding fathers went out of their way to emphasize the secular foundations of the United States, it drives me crazy when others claim this is a Christian nation. You want to help people? Help ‘em because they need help.

Secondly, consider that Bush has pumped millions into abstinence-only education. That’s been proven ineffective, possibly counterproductive, and leaving children ignorant about sexual health. Why does he advocate that? Religion. Simple as that. It’s not a stance one would take rationally, but it’s the one many take on religious grounds.

Another cool tidbit:

The American Religious Identification Survey in 2001 estimated that 29 million Americans had no religion, double the number from 1990. The survey, which was conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, estimated that 1.9 million identified themselves as atheist or agnostic.

What’s cool about this is, coincidentally, also twofold. On one hand, you have to remember that not everyone is comfortable saying they don’t believe thanks to social stigma, so those 29 million are probably just the ones who are willing to admit as opposed to millions more who do not practice in any way and don’t really have a belief at all.

Then realize that the 1.9 million is underrepresented for the same reason. 29 million “had no religion”. That, to me, is what someone says who doesn’t want to take the plunge and admit at least agnosticism. Overall it tells me the nonbelievers in this country are growing. Is it a coincidence that GWB is one of the most openly religious presidents in some time? You tell me.