Faith writer ‘leads the flock astray’

To the editor:

Once again, Howard Bess has it all wrong.

School vouchers are not a violation of the First Amendment. He needs to read it again. How can school vouchers even remotely be construed as establishing a religion? The government gives the vouchers to eligible families and they make the decision as to what private school to send their children to. How does this violate the First Amendment?

Taken to its logical conclusion, we should end welfare because some recipients might tithe. We should end food stamps, because some people might give food to a church food bank. We should end Medicare and Medicaid because some people might go to a hospital operated by the Sisters of Providence or some other religious organization.

The real reason progressives are against school vouchers is because vouchers compete with our disintegrating schools systems that are an abject failure in regards to providing anything remotely resembling a quality education. The best and brightest today are either homeschooled or went to private schools. Public education has been reduced to centers for social indoctrination, and it shows in today’s youth.

Howard Bess’ part in all this is to support his fellow progressives from a religious point of view. In reality, Howard Bess is an ideologue, not a theologian. His views should be presented in the editorial section, not the faith section, where he leads the flock astray.

Erik Heiker

Wasilla