What should be done about the destroyed places of worship in this scenario?

[ScrupulousMonk]

*Pardon me if this is the wrong forum

You are the Catholic leader of a secular nation. Your country allows for religious freedom and it has several religious groups residing within. The religious groups include but are not limited to Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and even…Satanists. All of a sudden, all the places of worship for all the religious groups have been destroyed through war, domestic conflict, terrorism, and/or natural disaster. The people then plea to your so that you may lend government aid in repairing these places of worship.

What should a Catholic leader of a secular nation do? It is wrong to support any other religions in any way, but it would seem a bit cold-hearted to just ignore them. I await your answers.

 

[sscott]

If he is the leader of the country then he represents all the people, even the ones who didn’t vote for him. Either he helps to rebuild all the buildings or none. His religious beliefs shouldn’t enter into it. This is why we have separation of church and state. The government can’t establish one religion at the expense of the others.

 

[Cricket2]

If the nation in question is to remain one in which people have freedom of religion then all of the places of worship must have assistance with repair. Of, if they are going to be told to handle it on their own, via their faithful, then no one should get extra aid. You can show no bias to or against any group.

 

[Joie_de_Vivre]

*Pardon me if this is the wrong forum

You are the Catholic leader of a secular nation. Your country allows for religious freedom and it has several religious groups residing within. The religious groups include but are not limited to Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and even…Satanists. All of a sudden, all the places of worship for all the religious groups have been destroyed through war, domestic conflict, terrorism, and/or natural disaster. The people then plea to your so that you may lend government aid in repairing these places of worship.

What should a Catholic leader of a secular nation do? It is wrong to support any other religions in any way, but it would seem a bit cold-hearted to just ignore them. I await your answers.

It’s an all/none scenario either help all or help none of them.

 

[manualman]

The scenario is not the USA, correct? So US constitutional law does not apply and we don’t know what does other than that there is religious freedom.

First, I think we need to define “help.” Handout taxpayer money to build churches? I think not.

Provide tax exempt status? Yes, with strings. I’d establish policy by which such status could be provided for religious groups that met certain standards in terms of respecting the innate dignity of the human being. Refuse to meet that criteria and you aren’t a benefit to the society I live in and don’t merit the tax break. The Satanists may howl, but too bad.

Provide fee-free driveways and utility connections to public roadways? Yup, caveated as above.

Subsidized loans? Maybe. Depends on the economic health of the government and the press of other priorities for limited cash. If the war blasted the bridges, power plants, water treatment, sanitation and energy distribution networks, that stuff needs doing first. We can have mass outside if we need to. Clean water can’t wait.

 

[ScrupulousMonk]

To ALL

Thank you for participating in this thread and God bless.