The Christian communicators association fears that its members, which include humanitarian groups such as World Vision, will be forced to hire atheists to administer Gospel-inspired relief work.

A pending bill that seeks to bar government funding for non-profits that have a religious requirement in their hiring process is a “serious assault” on faith-based charities, said the senior vice president of the world’s largest network of Christian communicators.

The SAMHSA Modernization Act of 2010 (H.R. 5466), sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (R-R.I.), threatens to cut valuable social services provided by faith-based groups, wrote Craig Parshall, the National Religious Broadcasters’ senior vice president and general counsel, to members of the network last week .

“[T]his bill represents a serious assault on non-profit faith groups as it threatens to cripple faith-based humanitarian and charitable organizations,” he added.

According to Parshall, the proposal, which is expected to lead religious groups into opting out of government funding rather than changing their hiring policies, does not make sense given that faith-based groups are widely recognized for providing local social services that are more cost-efficient and higher quality than those provided by the government.

“In an age where the American people seem to be telling the federal government to stop spending, and the government’s counter-argument is that our society is hurting for services, why in the world would we want to cripple the faith-based charities” that provide services at low coasts, questioned the NRB leader.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100927/faith-based-hiring-bill-an-assault-on-religious-charities-says-nrb-leader/index.html