Refuge for homeless may lose grant for saying mealtime grace

Refuge for homeless may lose grant for saying mealtime grace
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 03/05/2005)

A Christian refuge for homeless young people has been told it stands to lose crucial county council funding because grace is said before meals.

The Barnabas House refuge - set up more than a decade ago by King's Lynn Baptist Church - has been told by Norfolk county council that prayers, Bibles placed in rooms and advertising for Christian events are all "inappropriate".

It has also been told that it must relax the strict ban on any alcohol or drugs.

Trustees of Barnabas House, which runs three refuges in King's Lynn for people between 16 and 30, fear they may have no option but to dump the guiding Christian ethic at the homes because the charity relies on £150,000 of annual county council grant to keep going.

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so lets shut down a homeless shelter but allow KKKwingnuts to simulcast hatespeech.

this is truly bizarro world.

This is happening in England. Trust me, it would NEVER happen in America. (Imagine, giving the homeless equal rights to drink beer, take aspirin, and not get whacked with a bible every time they turn around just because they want a bed.)

jumped the gun I did, I did.

rather than making the homeless pray in the manner dictated by the Bapist church in order to get the services

??

Are you helping the homeless because Jesus said that what you do to the least of them, you do also unto me? Or are you helping them because they are potential recruits?

This is the whole problem that people like me have with faith based initiatives, the proselytizing. I am not against faith based charities getting funding, but it should be to run their charities like the homeless shelter without religion thrown in. I am sure those who wish to attend church will find their way there and then they can be proselytized there, not in the shelter. Is that so hard for these Bible thumpers to understand?

If they don't, then it calls into question to me, the sincerity of these churches to help the homeless.

This is from a conservative British newspaper. King's Lynn is in England, where the monetary unit is the pound, as in 150,000 pounds.

This has nothing to do with the BFEE.

I guess that's my first reaction to this.

If this were in the US, though, I'd want more information about it such as how they get the people they shelter, the programs offered (required) for residents, etc. If they are truly forcing practice of religion to a level they decide is appropriate while accepting tax-payer funding, then I have a problem with it.

But isn't it amazing that they are backing down? If it were a cell of the Moral Majority here in the US, we'd see it on CNN, MSNBC, Faux and PBS...all with a backdrop of protesters led by Ralph Reed.