PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ELIZABETH WARREN OBJECTS TO STATE PROGRAMS FUNDING PRIVATE SCHOOLS WITH
"ANTI-LGBTQ POLICIES"
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren tweeted on Sunday that she believes states should focus their funding on public, not private schools, and “especially not ones that maintain anti-LGBTQ+ policies.”Warren was commenting on an article published by the Huffington Post with the headline “An Under-The-Radar SCOTUS Case Could Obliterate The Line Between Church And State.” It outlined the currently pending case of Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which centers on a government program that allowed taxpayers who donate to organizations that award scholarships for the attendance of private schools to deduct up to $150 from their annual taxes.Realizing that some recipients were using the funds to send their children to faith-based institutions, the Montana Department of Revenue recently prohibited scholarship money from being used for such a purpose. It did so on the basis of the state Blaine Amendment, which prohibits public funds from being directed to religious schools.Three parents whose children had attended private faith-based schools as a result of the scholarships sued, arguing that the prohibition is unconstitutional. The Montana Supreme Court upheld the decision, and the matter was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to take the case.“[T]he issue isn’t just one of church and state or education funding, it is also about public dollars going to institutions with discriminatory practices,” Huffington Post wrote of the concerns of some. “A previous HuffPost investigation found that at least 14% of private religious schools around the country that receive public funding through programs like the one in Montana actively discriminate against LGBTQ staff and employees.”It also took issue that three of the schools in the program use textbooks from Abeka or Bob Jones University, claiming that “their social studies textbooks consistently teach distorted, whitewashed versions of history, and their science textbooks sometimes flout widely accepted facts.”“One Abeka history textbook previously analyzed by HuffPost, for example, says that Satan hatched ‘the ideas of evolution, socialism, Marxist-socialism (communism), progressive education, and modern psychology,'” the outlet wrote. “A Bob Jones University history textbook calls science a ‘false religion’ and portrays Islam as a violent religion, including a section titled ‘Islam and Murder.’In response to the article and its content regarding public funds being used for the attendance of “discriminatory” religious schools, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren provided her view on the matter on Sunday.“States should focus on funding public schools, not private ones — especially not ones that maintain anti-LGBTQ+ policies,” she tweeted. “We must ensure every kid — especially LGBTQ+ kids — can get a high-quality public education.”Response to her remark was mixed.“Abolish private schools. Much of this country’s hatred begins there,” one commenter wrote.“States can help fund both! Evidently you didn’t think public schools were good enough because you put yours in PRIVATE SCHOOL!” another noted.“My children didn’t use the public school system (home schooled and all went to college), yet you want more of my money to fund their propaganda,” a third remarked.“If you’re a religious person, we’ll take your taxes to fund schools, but don’t think you have any right to choose to have your tax money used to offer an education that aligns with your beliefs,” another posted sarcastically to show Warren’s logic.As previously reported, during a town hall event in October, when asked about her views on same-sex relationships and whether she always held to them, Warren sang the song “Jesus Loves the Little Children” in asserting that she was brought up to believe that God loves everyone.Romans 5:6-10 explains that the love of God is demonstrated by Christ dying for His enemies so that they might be saved from the power of sin and the wrath of God.“For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”Jesus outlined in John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
