Mark Green, House GOP supporthiring based on religious views

"One of the questions I like asking people - and it's not are they born again - but I like asking people, just so I can get an idea of their understanding of their religious views is, if you die today and were standing before the judgment seat of God and God said, 'Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?"

If I'm going to have somebody working in my office, it's nice to know where, how they view their relation to God, whether entrance into heaven is something they earn or if it's a free gift."

-- State Sen. Tom Reynolds, explaining why he asks those questions in job interviews for prospective staff.

"This is not harmless chit-chat," the Journal Sentinel says in an editorial. "These are questions that have no place in the context of interviews or the workplace."

But if House Republicans have their way, those are the kinds of questions teachers may be asked when applying for jobs with Head Start.

Rep. Mark Green, who's running for governor, and Reynolds, the state senator, are not that far apart on the issue.

In a broad update of the Head Start program, the House voted Thursday to let preschool providers consider a person's faith when hiring workers — and still be eligible for federal grants, the AP reports.

The Republican-led House said the move protects the rights of religious groups, but Democrats blasted it as discriminatory. The debate over religion overshadowed the main parts of the bill, which had drawn bipartisan support.

The vote on the amendment allowing the religion-based hiring was even tighter. It passed 220-196, with support from 10 Democrats, none from Wisconsin. All four Wisconsin Republicans -- Mark Green, F. Jim Sensenbrenner, Paul Ryan, and Tom Petri -- voted for the amendment. One of the Dems, Ron Kind, was absent. Roll call.

"[M}ost of the debate Thursday was not about oversight. It was about religion and civil rights. The Republican plan would, for example, allow a Catholic church that provides Head Start services to employ only Catholic child-care workers, and to reject equally qualified workers of other religions.," the AP reported.

"This is about our children, and denying them exemplary services just because the organization happens to be a religious one is just cruel," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.

Democrats and Republicans offered different interpretations of whether the Constitution, federal law and court rulings protected — or prevented — federally aided centers from hiring based on religion.

"Congress should not be in the business of supporting state-sponsored discrimination," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla.

The House bill, which had sailed through the Education Committee without controversy, would reauthorize the Head Start program through 2011. A similar measure in the Senate is pending.

The Senate bill does not include the religion-based hiring provision, although the language is likely to be offered as an amendment when the bill comes to a vote, as it was in the House.