Question: How do people take "Faith Based Parks Initiative" seriously?

[aden_nak]

I mean, how can one possibly put those the concepts of "God" and "National Parks" together as an obvious pairing? What about parks requires faith? The trees are there, aren't they? Every time I hear the phrase, something in my brain fizzles as I try to wrench the concept into a managable form. . . why in the hell (other than Bush's religious pandering/fanatacism) would we need a public parks program related to religion?

[annabanana]

1. We-e-ell-ll-ll............The flood that lifted Noah's arc.

DID carve the Grand Canyon, right?
sheesh

[flakey_foont]

3. But that Flood

destroyed all but 2 of each species...that means that an awful lot of puppies, and kittens and babies were killed just because of a few bad apples......does De Lawd have anger issues?

[DontTreadOnMe]

2. You have to be...

a "True Believer". Just asks Brittany. She's not sure about anything except that she trusts the President. And if he thinks the Grand Canyon was made by God, then that's good enough for her. Just follow and everything will be OK. Now here, take a sip of this juice...

[aden_nak]

5. Brain Meats. . . IN PAIN. . .

Charities I can understand. . . Schools I can understand. . . Medical Facilities I can understand. . . but why parks? PARKS? Sister Augestine's Wildlife Preserve? The Holy Mother Wetlands Fund? The Brotherhood of the Franciscan Forrest Rangers?

[sangh0]

4. Here's how

Because a surprisingly large amount of the charitable work in this country is performed by the religious. In addition, a lot of the social services that are paid for by the US government are provided by way of a contract between the USG and social services groups that are run by religious organizations. Most of the AIDS aid in Africa is delivered by Christian organizations.

Since much of the aid is already being delivered by faith-based organizations, it's not much of a stretch to think they might do more of it if encouraged by the state.

Of course, this doesn't mean that that was what was really the intentions behind this proposal, but it does provide a reason for why some might assume there's a valid point to increasing faith-based social services.