Religion
Related: About this forumRockland loses fight to deny funds to religious students
3:54 p.m. EDT May 30, 2014
Steve Lieberman and Laura Incalcaterra
A state judge upheld a decision allowing adults to receive child care subsidies while spending their days studying religious texts and getting paid to answer questions from other students.
Mark Lahey, principal administrative law judge with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, turned down a request by the Department of Social Services for another judge to reconsider the agency's decision to discontinue child-care benefits for the families of three Kaser religious students.
In a letter dated May 19 to Social Services Commissioner Susan Sherwood, Lahey upheld a judge's finding that the students were "engaged in work" – paid by a religious study center called a kollel to assist other students when called upon.
Social Services argued the men were not actual employees of Kollel Emes V'Emunah Viznitz and they claimed an exemption from Social Security taxes. Sherwood argued the men could not be considered earning wages to qualify for the child care program.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2014/05/30/rockland-loses-fight-deny-funds-religious-students/9779049/
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1175541-state-letter-to-sue-sherwood-doc053014-lieberman.html
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edhopper
(33,606 posts)I wonder if the Right will decry this, or if they turn a blind eye because they are religious and white? (rhetorical)
rug
(82,333 posts)I thought they were kindred spirits.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)Specifically, this particular group generally votes as a bloc and the bloc generally goes to local Democrats.
but I meant they both think the law should reflect religion and not be secular.
rug
(82,333 posts)It wants the law to reflect a particular religion, a particular set of overt values, to be the codification of specific privilege.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)in their communities.
So I wonder if those that push this agenda see the Orthodox communities as a wedge to do this.
rug
(82,333 posts)
Jim__
(14,082 posts)Social Services officials noted there is a long waiting list of 381 families with an estimated 700 children seeking child care. Sherwood said some families have been receiving child care for 20 to 30 years.
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The three families who challenged the DSS determination received $52,450 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 in 2013, as well as thousands of dollars from other social services programs that surpassed their family income.
rug
(82,333 posts)I wonder if they will.
LeftishBrit
(41,208 posts)but this sort of thing IS a problem in Israel, where the ultra-Orthodox are a significant group, and there are a number of men, who expect to spend their time studying the Torah and Talmud, and get funded by the State and/or by their wives who often do a full-time job while at the same time raising 10 kids (having lots of children is part of the ideology of this group). I have a couple of relatives in this category. Secular Israelis often get very frustrated at having to pay taxes for people who choose a way of life where they're not expected to do a job and expect to be funded by the state (and yes, this group are CHOOSING it; as you can see from my other posts, I don't feel this way about unemployed people or benefit claimants in general). The resentment is aggravated by the fact that many of the ultra-Orthodox are also exempted from military service. Possibly this all belongs more in I/P; but it does bring up the issue of exactly how much should very religious people be able to claim government benefits for their way of life, without (in the perspective of secular people) contributing much in return.
rug
(82,333 posts)What goes on bears watching.