{"id":6510,"date":"1998-03-04T12:00:23","date_gmt":"1998-03-04T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/?p=6510"},"modified":"2017-03-27T16:01:29","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T16:01:29","slug":"south-carolina-scholarship-aid-to-bju-would-violate-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/1998\/03\/04\/south-carolina-scholarship-aid-to-bju-would-violate-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Scholarship Aid to BJU Would Violate Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Joseph Conn<\/strong>
\n March 4, 1998 Rob Boston<\/strong><\/p>\n

SOUTH CAROLINA SCHOLARSHIP AID TO BOB JONES UNIVERSITY<\/strong>
\n WOULD VIOLATE CONSTITUTION,<\/strong>
\n CHURCH-STATE WATCHDOG GROUP CHARGES<\/strong><\/p>\n

BJU PRESIDENT BLASTS AID OPPONENTS AS ‘ENEMIES OF GOD’<\/strong><\/p>\n

State scholarship funding for Bob Jones University would violate
\nthe U.S. Constitution and taxpayers’ rights, a church-state watchdog
\ngroup has warned the South Carolina Senate.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the Senate Education Committee, Americans United
\nfor Separation of Church and State said participation by the militantly
\nfundamentalist Greenville school in the state’s Future Excellence (LIFE)
\nScholarship Program would violate both the U.S. and South Carolina
\nconstitutions, which prohibit public support for religious institutions.<\/p>\n

“It would be unconscionable to force all of South Carolina’s
\ntaxpayers to end up supporting religious views and agendas with which
\nthey disagree,” wrote the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive
\ndirector.<\/p>\n

“Without question,” insisted Lynn in the March 3 letter, “BJU is
\na religious college, a college that exists primarily to instill its
\nworldview in its students….As the university itself acknowledges,
\nreligion is integrated throughout the curriculum and campus life. As a
\nresult of its religious character, it would be impossible to fund the
\nsecular operations of BJU without funding its religious functions. For
\nthis reason, both the U.S. and South Carolina Supreme Courts have held
\nthat any funding of pervasively sectarian institutions is
\nunconstitutional.”<\/p>\n

The South Carolina House of Representatives has already approved
\nH.B. 4535, a measure that for the first time would include BJU in its
\nlargesse. BJU students would be eligible for up to $2,000 in scholarship
\nfunds, even though the school is unaccredited. The bill, which has
\nsupport from Gov. David Beasley, is now pending in the Senate.<\/p>\n

BJU is best known for a 1983 Supreme Court decision that upheld
\nthe revocation of the school’s tax-exempt status because of its
\nrestrictive racial policies.<\/p>\n

BJU’s leaders are also known for their shrill rhetoric. In a
\nrecent example, BJU President Bob Jones III blasted opponents of the
\nscholarship subsidy. “There is spiritual warfare going on,” said Jones at
\nthe Feb. 17 BJU chapel service, “but God is in control….These people
\nare enemies of God.”<\/p>\n

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a
\nWashington, D.C.-based religious liberty watchdog group representing some
\n50,000 members in all 50 states. Founded in 1947, AU has often
\nparticipated in lawsuits challenging tax aid to private religious
\nschools.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________________
\nAmericans United for Separation of Church and State
\n1816 Jefferson Place, N.W.
\nWashington, D.C. 20036
\n202.466.3234
\n202.466.2587 fax
\nE-mail: americansunited@au.org
\nWWW site: http:\/\/www.au.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Distributed by charles.sumner@juno.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Joseph Conn March 4, 1998 Rob Boston SOUTH CAROLINA SCHOLARSHIP AID TO BOB JONES UNIVERSITY WOULD VIOLATE CONSTITUTION, CHURCH-STATE WATCHDOG GROUP CHARGES BJU PRESIDENT BLASTS AID OPPONENTS AS ‘ENEMIES OF...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[139,103],"class_list":["post-6510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-bob-jones-university","tag-press-release"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89tuq-1H0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Press-Releases.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6511,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6510\/revisions\/6511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}