What do Jerry Nadler and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have against New Yorkâs churches, synagogues, temples and mosques? The House of Representatives has just voted 354 to 72 to make houses of worship damaged by Hurricane Sandy eligible for the same federal relief available to other nonprofits. It passed over objections from Nadler and the American Civil Liberties Union. A rabbi for the hard-hit West End Temple in Rockaway frames the issue well: âI am a separation-of-church-and-state kind of person, but if my temple were to have a fire, the Fire Department is not going to pull up and say, âThis is a synagogue, we canât put out the fire? The rabbi is right. The bill was cosponsored by two local members of Congress â New York Democrat Grace Meng and New Jersey Republican Chris Smith. In a letter of support to Smith, Harvardâs Alan Dershowitz writes that âonce FEMA has the policy in place to aid various nonprofit organizations with their building repairs, houses of worship should not be excluded from receiving this aid on the same terms.â In its own letter, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty notes that if FEMAâs discrimination is allowed to stand, it would deny churches and synagogues the same help available to the neighborhood zoo. Weâve been here before. Back during the Bush years, FEMA denied relief to a Hebrew school damaged by a Seattle earthquake. A successful challenge by the Orthodox Union, which is now spearheading this fight, changed that. The irony of FEMAâs discrimination should be obvious: It hurts the very people who, in the wake of Sandy, rushed to the front lines to get relief to their neighbors. Thereâs also a lesson for our government agencies, especially FEMA. When the storm hit, religious communities mobilized immediately to deliver relief, quickly and efficiently, where it was needed most. That led to interesting alliances â such as Mormons and Muslims coming together to bring food, sump pumps and winter clothing to thousands of Sandy sufferers. In short, this bill has more to do with common sense than the Constitution. We hope weâre not unduly offending Rep. Nadler and his pals at the ACLU when we say we pray our senators approve it quickly. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_first_church_of_fema_bN1xUTkjKnfs5JKZP7HAhM
One could argue that the hypothetical fire at the synagogue needs to be put out since it could become a hazard to neighbouring properties owned by tax payers, or that there might be tax payers inside who would need to be rescued. Unlike other businesses in the entertainment industry, religious organizations have the privilege of not having to pay taxes on the money they take from their gullible customers. There is no reason tax payers should be further burdened by having to pay for the reconstruction of their property.