Source:
The Wall of Separation The official blog of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
December 13th, 2010
By Sandhya Bathija.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear at least has one thing right: taxpayers should never be required to fund discrimination.
Earlier this month, Beshear outraged scientists, civil liberties activists and, indeed, lots of people who care about reasonable and responsible government, with his plan to provide tax incentives for the developers of a creationism-themed park featuring a full-size rendering of Noah’s ark.
Not only was the state’s endorsement of a religious viewpoint troublesome from a constitutional perspective, it also irked scientists that the governor was planning to promote bad science. Paleontologists are pretty darn sure that Earth is more than 6,000 years old and that humans and dinosaurs did not exist at the same time, and state support for a fundamentalist Christian facility that says otherwise is a bad idea.
Beshear has since taken a small step in the right direction — though it’s still quite far from where he needs to be. The governor has assured us that the park’s fundamentalist Christian backers will not be able to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion.
link:
http://blog.au.org/2010/12/13/ark-park-update-ky-gov-says-state-won%e2%80%99t-allow-job-bias-%e2%80%93-but-that%e2%80%99s-not-enough/_______________________________________
As the author goes on to note, the larger issue is one of government financing of a religious project. Along with the federal funding of Faith-Based Initiatives, we are seeing greater and greater erosion of the dividing line between the secular and religious spheres in the United States.