Source #0: http://ffrf.org/news/action/iowa-school-to-pay-for-church-renovations/ Source #1: http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/cedar-falls-board-of-education-picks-preschol-site/article_131b8636-e65a-5698-a6c7-161158a9caf8.html Source #2: http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/cedar-falls-preschool-plan-draws-fire-from-atheist-group/article_b766699a-2752-5019-8fbb-cd01e45465b8.html Submit: http://www.wcfcourier.com/app/forms/lettertoeditor/ The WCF Courier Letters to the Editor P.O. Box 540 501 Commercial Street Waterloo, Iowa 50704 (200 words or less) ------- Why am I being asked to pay for a church’s renovations? Because the Cedar Falls school district feels that in order to have two preschool classes they need to do so in a church, which isn’t that bad, until you learn that the district wants to pay almost $62,000 to renovate the church (complete with a handicap accessible restroom, emergency exists, and other things to bring it to code). Frankly, this is money the church should be spending on themselves. There is even a well drawn out section in the Iowa constitution which states, “Nor shall any person be compelled to . . . pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing places of worship.” As an atheist, my tax money is going to something which I can’t use. Will I be allowed to hold meetings and gatherings (of secular meaning) in the church since it is now publicly funded? I doubt it. I don’t see how this can be any clearer, perhaps if they were attempting to remodel a different religion’s private worship space there would be uproar, but this is nothing less than a violation. ------