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	Vol.7, No 42, November 10, 1999
	Religious favoritism in Congress The Religious Liberty Protection Act is special legislation favoring religious groups over private individuals, businesses and secular organizations.  Jim Senyszyn It threatens the application of anti-discrimination laws, work place codes of behavior, such as dress codes, public zoning laws, child welfare laws, and the administration of prisons. People can claim as a religious front organization that certain races or groups are evil and should not be hired or housed. Laws against such discrimination can be construed as an "undue burden" on what is alleged to be religion. Recently in Peoria, a so-called "church" disciple went on a killing spree. Would a search of the church premises for guns and explosives be an "undue burden?" People can claim that dress codes prohibiting clothing promoting religion such as "What Would Jesus Do?" shirts or other paraphernalia at work are restrictive. Would barring such displays by government-paid election workers at the polls infringe on their religious beliefs? RLPA is an attempt to overturn the 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Boerne v. Flores, in which a church used the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to evade local zoning restrictions. Do people really want new mammoth-sized churches and all the crowds and traffic in their neighborhoods? It astounds me that Medicare and Medicaid will pay for faith healing, even at a distance. RLPA will allow gullible believers to go one step further and not obtain professional medical care for their sick children. RLPA is an exercise in futility and will be struck down as unconstitutional just like the original RFRA. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that RFRA provided churches with a legal instrument that "no atheist" could hope to obtain.  Jim Senyszyn is a computer programmer in Peoria, Ill.		Teacher addresses school crowding   Journalism class alarms faculty   Fliers on buildings removed   Children learn from Carpenter Center artists   TV won't teach reading   Religious favoritism in Congress   Community service helps career goals   Singer creates average attempt   Club Hockey team Clubbed in Colorado   Pac-10 football has mixed reviews Fall 99 ISSUES  DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications,  Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach  ©1999 All rights reserved.