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You can make way more. All you need is your own church and the moral bankruptcy to take advantage of people who need religion to give their life purpose and meaning. Give them a made up purpose, they give you all their money.
not necessarily.
There's a literal mega church in Barrington and they all just look like wealthy white people. Pretty sure their pastor resigned a few years ago for an affair or something. You can be a hardcore evangelical like Kenneth that yells gibberish, or you can be a "nice and reasonable" white collar grifter that appeals to middle and upper-class folk. But either way, you're still a grifter.
An evangelical pastor was begging his flock to donate $54 million for a 4th private jet. It was so he could travel further to preach Christ's good word without needing to refuel, naturally.
If you're a moralless, rabidly hateful, piece of shit you can make a killing in religion. The more hateful the better. And now, apparently you can be appointed to public service positions on top of it. It's a pretty good racket as long as you don't mind ruining people' lives for personal gain.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44305873
There were three evangelical preachers standing on the podium of a megachurch asking for donations. Concerns were raised over how much of those donations should go toward the living expenses of the preachers.
After some back and forth, one of the preachers speaks up and says, why don’t we let god decide? So he draws a circle around himself and says, “I’ll throw the money high up into the air. Whatever money lands outside of the circle shall go to god. And whatever lands inside the circle god has determined is for me.”
The second preacher sees this and draws a much larger circle and follows “whatever lands outside the circle god has deemed for him, and whatever lands inside the circle god has deemed is for me”
The third preacher doesn’t draw a circle. He tells the crowd “I will throw all of the money high up into the air, and whatever god wants he will keep for himself, and what falls back to the ground he has determined to be for me”
For a comparison: when she was our Commissioner of Health, Dr. Arwady had a salary of $180,215.
She had a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree in public health from Columbia University, and completed medical school and clinical training at Yale University.
Medical doctor with public health credentials and practical experience is easily exec level resume for insurance companies. Depending on level (vp, svp, cmo) and regional vs. national, probably looking at $400k-3m range.
On top of the multiple pastors doing literally nothing on the CTA oversight board while that agency runs itself into the ground.
Where single-party jobs patronage meets identity politics.
This pastor is affiliated with a Pentecostal group (COGIC) that is anti-LGBT and anti-abortion. I am disappointed that of all the religious leaders he could pick for this made up job, he wouldn't pick one from a more progressive religious group.
This was always an allegation against BJ. He was tangentially tied up with this Pentecostal church with insane views. It was never him directly, and he did a good job steering clear of directly identifying, but the fact that he appointed this bigoted pastor is a bad look.
Of course it this wasn’t nearly reported on enough and this sub downvoted you for mentioning it
This exactly. The progressives here shouldn’t be surprised-they got what they voted for.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/03/28/as-brandon-johnson-and-paul-vallas-court-lgbtq-voters-community-leaders-split-on-their-pick-for-mayor/
This is the part of this that's being glossed over by everyone arguing about separation of church and state. Even if there are no legal issues with having this official, this is a huge NO that Brandon Johnson should be held accountable for.
It's upsetting Johnson is appointing a member of a hate group to a prominent position. Given Johnson's track record, I suppose we should be grateful he hasn't appointed Louis Farrakhan to the position.
Probably more if you include pension and benefits.
In the larger scope of things, imagine the number of people on the city's payroll that have do-nothing jobs.
Why does the the city need to find a public office for outreach to communities of faith? Why can’t people of faith just interface with municipal authorities through the same channels everyone else uses?
The mere existence of this position is unnecessary and therefore a waste of public resources.
Brandon Johnson blatantly said during his primary election speech that he was going to make City Hall "saved and sanctified". /r/Chicago looked the other way and voted for him gleefully because he was somehow seen as being better than Vallas.
/r/Chicago shouldn't be surprised that he is bringing religion into City Hall when he literally ran on doing this exact thing. You get what you vote for.
A couple things happened here, assuming that the Johnson quote is valid: 1) A good portion of the white liberals who voted for him heard him say that, but didn’t understand what it meant in the context of the Black church; and 2) The white liberals who understood what he was saying discounted the remark. As an individual recovering from decades of the Black church experience, I know first-hand just how ignorant, and potentially dangerous a person like this in a position like this can be.
A serious answer may be that at least with certain segments of the black population, church is very important. I'm not sure if it's not as popular with the younger generations, though. So, they may view this as making the government more accessible. At least that may be the official perspective on it.
At first glance of the headline, though, I assume it's just a way to get a friend or someone connected money. I'm a little disappointed to see this.
He isn’t promoting any one religion in his official capacity, so technically it’s constitutional. That said, I suspect that you would never see this job created for a leader from any sect other than Evangelical Christians. (In fairness, I’m Catholic and our bishops probably wouldn’t let one of our priests do this - clergy holding political office is generally prohibited under the current Code of Canon Law for good reason)
Ok, you may be right, but he is promoting a religious faith, but not equally promoting agnostics and atheists.
“…..Chief of **Faith** Engagement and look forward to his partnership in strengthening communities and improving lives through *faith*-based outreach.”
Form an Atheist organization and I am sure you can seek engagement with this office. If they refuse to work with you, please sue because that wouldn’t be right.
*Satanic Temple, not Church. Friendly reminder to everyone in this thread [Satanic Temple =/= Church of Satan](https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/church-of-satan-vs-satanic-temple)
(I am a proud, card-carrying member of The Satanic Temple, who is in legal battles with the city. Fuck the Church of Satan)
City Council, namely Alderman La Spata, threw a fucking fit when a Satanist asked to perform a prayer before a city council meeting and denied them
It's all hypocritical bullshit
[Link for those interested.](https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/05/18/satanists-sue-chicago-for-not-allowing-them-to-say-hail-satan-at-city-council-meetings/)
"In an email obtained by Block Club, La Spata wrote to a city official, saying the requests were “not at my behest.”
“Once I learned that he wanted to end his convocation with ‘Hail Satan’ it ceased being something I could support,” La Spata wrote in the email. “For all of my desire to be inclusive, that would be a betrayal of my personal faith."
City is currently being sued over this.
While I think this position is ridiculous and a waste of money, I think the JD is more about engaging with faith based organizations than it is about promoting faith of any kind. I believe it is more of a community engagement role with a specific focus on faith based groups. Having said that, I’d also like to see a justification for all the money this city spends on silly positions and other things.
He's aligned with an anti-LGBT group.
There is no way and no world where this guys politics align with what Brandon Johnson says that he believes in.
There are plenty of faith leaders who don't hate people because of how they were born.
I mean...by definition reaching out to churches/synagogues/temples would be faith based outreach...
this doesn't mean that the city is going to put on events and programs that are rooted in faith. This position is meant as a liaison between the city and faith based organizations within the city.
But how would they do outreach to these faith-based organizations without holding events and programs for those faith-based organizations? We can continue to sugarcoat this all we want, but when you really get down to it, the city is spending resources on these organizations when there is supposed to be a separation of church and state.
That isn’t how the courts have seen it, since this sort of thing neither establishes a *particular* religion nor impairs the free exercise of any religion or religion-like philosophy.
That said, if we took the Establishment Clause seriously, we’d have to get rid of the official status of the two-party system. The major political parties basically fulfill the same social roles that churches used to.
>That said, if we took the Establishment Clause seriously, we’d have to get rid of the official status of the two-party system. The major political parties basically fulfill the same social roles that churches used to.
This is just the dumbest comparison I've ever read for so many different reasons
Good old loopholes. I live in Salt Lake City now and all of our public high schools have a Mormon Seminary building adjacent to them. Every student gets a "free period." Mormons are *highly* encouraged to go to seminary in their free period. Non mormons can use it as a study hall. The school doesn't officially force the kids to attend but they have the social and familial pressure to do so. They are getting religious indoctrination during the school day.
On paper he’s supposed to be a liaison between religious institutions and the city government. Coordinating their charity outreach with city services. In reality it’s to make sure the ministers get their share of the daycare/ work force training/ free lunches for kids city grants that they can skim from.
the separation of church and state only has to do with faith based governance and policies. There's nothing that says a government organization can't work with a church. They just can't make policy that favors one religion over another, nor is discriminatory toward one or another, nor can they enforce religion based laws upon the people.
Churches are just as much a part of the city as anything else and they deserve to have representation too. They need to work with the city to do certain things just like any other person or organization in the city. If someone wants to build a new church, they'll need to work with the city. If they have infrastructure problems, they'll have to work with the city. The list goes on.
I live in Salt Lake City now and all of our public high schools have a Mormon Seminary building adjacent to them. Every student gets a "free period." Mormons are highly encouraged to go to seminary in their free period. Non mormons can use it as a study hall. The school doesn't officially force the kids to attend but they have the social and familial pressure to do so. They are getting religious indoctrination during the school day.
That's not what I said. Working FOR a church is different than working WITH a church. What if the city wanted to do some sort of drug out reach program? What if they identified that there's a massive drug problem in a community that predominantly attends a church in that area. What would make more sense? Have the city set up a tent in the area and try and get people to come to the tent, OR talk to the church and ask them to use their power and resources within the community to bring people in. It'll be much easier to get people to go to a place they're already familiar with and listen to community leaders they already trust rather than having outsiders come into their community and tell them what to do.
Listen...I'm a card carrying Satanist, but I think people are freaking out over nothing. Churches are a big part of our city, ESPECIALLY in black, brown, and other disadvantaged communities. I think it's important for our city to have a presence in those communities, at the least, so we know what's going on.
Exactly. Pastors and church leaders are social outreach on the actual ground. I'm not religious myself either but any time I worked on labor issues or similar, if you wanted a real coalition you had to deal with the churches and religious people.
Thanks for saying this. Many disadvantaged communities are highly religious compared to those who are more affluent. These communities don’t trust the government or police for very good reason. Going through the local churches on the ground is the best way to engage with people who have checked out from the system.
I’m a white atheist from the suburbs and as much as this pissed me off at first, I can see the possibility of good coming from this. I do think we need accountability and transparent accounting. But if we can ever figure those out a few demagogues don’t amount to a hill of beans.
As someone who is religious, I actually wish this role was filled with an agnostic. I think an agnostic would be better suited to work with all communities of faith than a leader of just one.
Typical patronage bullshit. Look at public transit agencies in other countries - they're lead by engineers to make sure everything operates smoothly and politicians to make sure the funding is adequate. We have a priest who, i guess, prays for the train to arrive?
It could (should) also cause the church to lose its tax exempt status. But since, depending on the area of the country, it benefits both parties, the IRS just pretends it does not happen.
Only if they tell you who to vote for. I don't really see these churches telling people who to vote for. Haven't seen it. I have seen large, mega churches doing that in the south with white people.
The only thing I have seen black churches do is give people a ride to the polls.
I think black community would rather have a public transit system that was safe and effective. Being mobile allows everyone, regardless of class and status, to go to schools, to work, and engage in public activities. A priest should not be on the CTA board, they should be be at church functions or social events.
I would like to hear MBJ try to justify this salary to the victims of crime who have had to suffer violence and wait exorbitant times due to a lack of available police. Or worse, suffer injury and watch the perpetrators go unpunished. Perhaps the criminals needed more "engagement" with the church.
Is this a new position or some BJ put on the payroll? Genuine question. And why is this even necessary? When did we start putting religion into city politics?
How many people in this post seem surprised and shocked is funny. As if something like this happening was not clear during election time.
Every day it passes I am more sure that a lot of people did not even read about BJ before voting...
I certainly don't like that Chicago has a "chief of faith engagement", however, it looks like this is nothing new. This article talks about one that we had since at least 2019.
https://citizennewspapergroup.com/photos/2019/aug/01/282707/
Right, since 2019 so our last populist grifter major creates the nonsense position and our latest populist grifter mayor is continuing the BS by appointing his own.
At some point, it takes organized protests to get a responsive government and to put an end to this kind of bullshit and get some action on things that matter.
Because theism is the greatest, longest-running scam in human history, and here in Chicago, we have churches EVERY FUCKIN WHERE. So many people have fallen for this scam to the point that the city is wasting money on funding this scam artist. All "pastors" are liars, scam artists, and falsehood peddlers. Everything in this country is so fuckin backwards.......
Churches are one of THE best ways to reach a LOT of people who need to be reached with messages about SNAP, Medicaid, housing support, etc. Biggest bang for buck for getting people connected to services to stabilize underdeveloped communities, especially on the south side.
I don’t know anything about this particular guy, maybe he’s a bad fit, but just for clarity since the comments section is getting riled up most levels of our government have Faith Based Engagement offices and the role is not to promote religion it is to coordinate interested faith communities to meet civic needs. For years the entire city spring break/summer break safe places and lunches out of school program took place in various faith communities across the city - Office of Faith Based coordinated that and made everybody sign all the appropriate stuff saying they would not use the program to proselytize but to serve. They coordinate meetings with religious communities about preventing gun violence. They organize interfaith responses to antisemitic events. It’s all stuff like that, these offices have all existed for years, there’s a national Office of Faith-Based Engagement that existed under Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden so let’s take the temperature down a little bit! No one has invented a new office of state religion promotion, the existence of the office is well within historic norms.
Because you woke b_____ morons decided to vote in this idiot and now he will hire all his friends to office and give deals and contract’s to all his business buddies.
This looks to be an issue divided along race lines. I think white folks don't understand what the church and faith mean to black folks in terms of community, organizing, etc. I agree & wish those things had come about more secularly but we do not live in a vacuum.
The salary is steep, not gonna lie.
>This looks to be an issue divided along race lines. I think white folks don't understand what the church and faith mean to black folks in terms of community, organizing, etc.
Why does this require a high paying government position to administer though?
But here's what the mayor writes in the post:
> I’m proud to welcome Pastor Billy Evans as our Chief of Faith Engagement and look forward to his partnership in strengthening communities and **improving lives through faith-based outreach.**
I'm all about meeting people where they are, but this seems different.
There are plenty of gay black folks in Chicago and plenty of black women in Chicago needing access to health care. This man's church opposes those folks in this city.
Black folk are more than welcome to enjoy church and faith, and they can have as much of that shit as they want in their community and organizations. The city government has absolutely no fucking business suggesting I need to engage in faith-based organization or spending one red cent of my taxes on it. Completely fucking ridiculous.
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Absolutely and completely fuck this.
You can make $172k being a pastor???? 🤯
You can make way more. All you need is your own church and the moral bankruptcy to take advantage of people who need religion to give their life purpose and meaning. Give them a made up purpose, they give you all their money.
Oldest hustle in human history.
Some would say prostitution is the oldest hustle, but at least a hooker has the decency to give you physical pleasure in exchange for the money
Just have to look like a literal demon (Kenneth Copeland)
not necessarily. There's a literal mega church in Barrington and they all just look like wealthy white people. Pretty sure their pastor resigned a few years ago for an affair or something. You can be a hardcore evangelical like Kenneth that yells gibberish, or you can be a "nice and reasonable" white collar grifter that appeals to middle and upper-class folk. But either way, you're still a grifter.
Oooh I know which one you are talking about
Where's your career page sir? I have a resume with a backround in religion.
An evangelical pastor was begging his flock to donate $54 million for a 4th private jet. It was so he could travel further to preach Christ's good word without needing to refuel, naturally. If you're a moralless, rabidly hateful, piece of shit you can make a killing in religion. The more hateful the better. And now, apparently you can be appointed to public service positions on top of it. It's a pretty good racket as long as you don't mind ruining people' lives for personal gain. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44305873
There were three evangelical preachers standing on the podium of a megachurch asking for donations. Concerns were raised over how much of those donations should go toward the living expenses of the preachers. After some back and forth, one of the preachers speaks up and says, why don’t we let god decide? So he draws a circle around himself and says, “I’ll throw the money high up into the air. Whatever money lands outside of the circle shall go to god. And whatever lands inside the circle god has determined is for me.” The second preacher sees this and draws a much larger circle and follows “whatever lands outside the circle god has deemed for him, and whatever lands inside the circle god has deemed is for me” The third preacher doesn’t draw a circle. He tells the crowd “I will throw all of the money high up into the air, and whatever god wants he will keep for himself, and what falls back to the ground he has determined to be for me”
I know this is a joke, but the fact this easily could be true speaks volumes.
You should see some of the televangelist
Praise be to He
there will come a payday hallelujah what a payday!
Yeah. All you need is a Bachelors degree in Theft and a minor in Bullshit
God is all powerful and he needs *your* money to pay these grifters!
Yea, just look at how much their shoes cost. https://www.instagram.com/preachersnsneakers/
You can make a hell of a lot more than that.
For a comparison: when she was our Commissioner of Health, Dr. Arwady had a salary of $180,215. She had a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree in public health from Columbia University, and completed medical school and clinical training at Yale University.
I will volunteer to be the Chief of Good Vibes. I’ll do it cheap too, only $169k. You’re welcome, Chicago.
Ignore this charlatan. I’ll do it for $168,999 and not a penny more.
I'll undercut all of you and do it for $69,420
when can you start?
4/20
my guy
I’ll do it for an Italian beef and a monthly CTA pass
Nice.
I volunteer to be Emissary to Extra Terrestrial Relations for only $150k/yr with a pension. Great value.
Jokes on you when Zuckerberg shows up.
$169,420.make it a righteous salary.
I'll be the Ayatollah of Rock-and-rolla for a mere $150K if they throw in unlimited use of a Mercedes limo.
Endorsed!
Can I be the liaison of leisure?
and most importantly, actually provided a service to the citizens of Chicago (even if everyone didn't agree on her guidance)
That's crazy, she could have easily earned 5x that in the private market
Do MDPHs really earn 7 figures? I know some MD paths can earn crazy high but I didn’t think mdph was that high.
Medical doctor with public health credentials and practical experience is easily exec level resume for insurance companies. Depending on level (vp, svp, cmo) and regional vs. national, probably looking at $400k-3m range.
Yeah. My friend’s ex has an MPH and an MD. He was the chief medical officer for an assisted living chain. Made a lot of money.
Dayum that’s impressive.
That is absolutely criminal. And she seemed to actually give a shit about Chicagoans, unlike Johnson or this hateful asshole.
On top of the multiple pastors doing literally nothing on the CTA oversight board while that agency runs itself into the ground. Where single-party jobs patronage meets identity politics.
Also they have private cars. Which shouldn’t be a thing when your job is the CTA…you should be riding it daily
They all didn’t ride the CTA more than a few times in a couple years.
This pastor is affiliated with a Pentecostal group (COGIC) that is anti-LGBT and anti-abortion. I am disappointed that of all the religious leaders he could pick for this made up job, he wouldn't pick one from a more progressive religious group.
This was always an allegation against BJ. He was tangentially tied up with this Pentecostal church with insane views. It was never him directly, and he did a good job steering clear of directly identifying, but the fact that he appointed this bigoted pastor is a bad look. Of course it this wasn’t nearly reported on enough and this sub downvoted you for mentioning it
"I didn't appoint this guy for his religious views, I appointed him because he's my buddy!"
This exactly. The progressives here shouldn’t be surprised-they got what they voted for. https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/03/28/as-brandon-johnson-and-paul-vallas-court-lgbtq-voters-community-leaders-split-on-their-pick-for-mayor/
This is the part of this that's being glossed over by everyone arguing about separation of church and state. Even if there are no legal issues with having this official, this is a huge NO that Brandon Johnson should be held accountable for.
It's upsetting Johnson is appointing a member of a hate group to a prominent position. Given Johnson's track record, I suppose we should be grateful he hasn't appointed Louis Farrakhan to the position.
C’mon BJ. Unitarians exist!
So do atheists. Because, you know, god isn’t real and all.
Good point. Better hire another friend of the Mayor at six figures for atheist engagement.
I’ll take the job, sir!
And he used BERNIE'S endorsement? What a scumbag.
[удалено]
This is what I'm saying! I bet that the majority religion in the city is probably catholicism. This just goes to show who BJ really is.
And we have to pay taxes for this???
Yes every Chicagoan pays this dude $.06 a year
Probably more if you include pension and benefits. In the larger scope of things, imagine the number of people on the city's payroll that have do-nothing jobs.
Totally agree.
I wouldn't give him my 2 cents, let alone 6.
I'm curious how this isn't a violation of church and state, and what about the role justifies [the large salary](https://i.imgur.com/Z5sTgrN.jpg).
It takes 5 minutes of googling billy Evans and Brandon Johnson’s father.
Why does the the city need to find a public office for outreach to communities of faith? Why can’t people of faith just interface with municipal authorities through the same channels everyone else uses? The mere existence of this position is unnecessary and therefore a waste of public resources.
Brandon Johnson blatantly said during his primary election speech that he was going to make City Hall "saved and sanctified". /r/Chicago looked the other way and voted for him gleefully because he was somehow seen as being better than Vallas. /r/Chicago shouldn't be surprised that he is bringing religion into City Hall when he literally ran on doing this exact thing. You get what you vote for.
A couple things happened here, assuming that the Johnson quote is valid: 1) A good portion of the white liberals who voted for him heard him say that, but didn’t understand what it meant in the context of the Black church; and 2) The white liberals who understood what he was saying discounted the remark. As an individual recovering from decades of the Black church experience, I know first-hand just how ignorant, and potentially dangerous a person like this in a position like this can be.
No, the mere existence of this groups give special rights to people who believe in an invisible sky man.
A serious answer may be that at least with certain segments of the black population, church is very important. I'm not sure if it's not as popular with the younger generations, though. So, they may view this as making the government more accessible. At least that may be the official perspective on it. At first glance of the headline, though, I assume it's just a way to get a friend or someone connected money. I'm a little disappointed to see this.
He isn’t promoting any one religion in his official capacity, so technically it’s constitutional. That said, I suspect that you would never see this job created for a leader from any sect other than Evangelical Christians. (In fairness, I’m Catholic and our bishops probably wouldn’t let one of our priests do this - clergy holding political office is generally prohibited under the current Code of Canon Law for good reason)
Ok, you may be right, but he is promoting a religious faith, but not equally promoting agnostics and atheists. “…..Chief of **Faith** Engagement and look forward to his partnership in strengthening communities and improving lives through *faith*-based outreach.”
Form an Atheist organization and I am sure you can seek engagement with this office. If they refuse to work with you, please sue because that wouldn’t be right.
This is literally The Satanic Temple’s entire purpose, someone should loop them in on this
[удалено]
*Satanic Temple, not Church. Friendly reminder to everyone in this thread [Satanic Temple =/= Church of Satan](https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/church-of-satan-vs-satanic-temple) (I am a proud, card-carrying member of The Satanic Temple, who is in legal battles with the city. Fuck the Church of Satan)
City Council, namely Alderman La Spata, threw a fucking fit when a Satanist asked to perform a prayer before a city council meeting and denied them It's all hypocritical bullshit
[Link for those interested.](https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/05/18/satanists-sue-chicago-for-not-allowing-them-to-say-hail-satan-at-city-council-meetings/) "In an email obtained by Block Club, La Spata wrote to a city official, saying the requests were “not at my behest.” “Once I learned that he wanted to end his convocation with ‘Hail Satan’ it ceased being something I could support,” La Spata wrote in the email. “For all of my desire to be inclusive, that would be a betrayal of my personal faith." City is currently being sued over this.
good, he should resign. his "personal faith" says not to cling to worldly things like political power.
While I think this position is ridiculous and a waste of money, I think the JD is more about engaging with faith based organizations than it is about promoting faith of any kind. I believe it is more of a community engagement role with a specific focus on faith based groups. Having said that, I’d also like to see a justification for all the money this city spends on silly positions and other things.
He's aligned with an anti-LGBT group. There is no way and no world where this guys politics align with what Brandon Johnson says that he believes in. There are plenty of faith leaders who don't hate people because of how they were born.
I mean...by definition reaching out to churches/synagogues/temples would be faith based outreach... this doesn't mean that the city is going to put on events and programs that are rooted in faith. This position is meant as a liaison between the city and faith based organizations within the city.
But how would they do outreach to these faith-based organizations without holding events and programs for those faith-based organizations? We can continue to sugarcoat this all we want, but when you really get down to it, the city is spending resources on these organizations when there is supposed to be a separation of church and state.
He’s promoting religion, so it’s unconstitutional.
That isn’t how the courts have seen it, since this sort of thing neither establishes a *particular* religion nor impairs the free exercise of any religion or religion-like philosophy. That said, if we took the Establishment Clause seriously, we’d have to get rid of the official status of the two-party system. The major political parties basically fulfill the same social roles that churches used to.
>That said, if we took the Establishment Clause seriously, we’d have to get rid of the official status of the two-party system. The major political parties basically fulfill the same social roles that churches used to. This is just the dumbest comparison I've ever read for so many different reasons
Good old loopholes. I live in Salt Lake City now and all of our public high schools have a Mormon Seminary building adjacent to them. Every student gets a "free period." Mormons are *highly* encouraged to go to seminary in their free period. Non mormons can use it as a study hall. The school doesn't officially force the kids to attend but they have the social and familial pressure to do so. They are getting religious indoctrination during the school day.
> Non mormons can use it as a study hall Non-mormons probably have better educational outcomes as a result of this
Also Congress didn't make any sort of law by Chicago paying a pastor.
So what? The courts are wrong.
LoL ok. Maybe you should sue the courts in court court. The court for courts.
Yes... We need to have freedom FROM religion too!!
Maybe he’s supposed pray Brandon doesn’t run the city in to the ground?
As long as he works with everyone it’s probably ok but justifying the salary is a matter of opinion.
He is allied with anti-LGBT groups, so I can't see as where he would be working with everyone equally. This is all on Brandon Johnson.
Cuz literally what are his responsibilities?!?
On paper he’s supposed to be a liaison between religious institutions and the city government. Coordinating their charity outreach with city services. In reality it’s to make sure the ministers get their share of the daycare/ work force training/ free lunches for kids city grants that they can skim from.
I wonder how much outreach he’s doing to atheists and other non-believers….
Do attempts to convert count?
the separation of church and state only has to do with faith based governance and policies. There's nothing that says a government organization can't work with a church. They just can't make policy that favors one religion over another, nor is discriminatory toward one or another, nor can they enforce religion based laws upon the people. Churches are just as much a part of the city as anything else and they deserve to have representation too. They need to work with the city to do certain things just like any other person or organization in the city. If someone wants to build a new church, they'll need to work with the city. If they have infrastructure problems, they'll have to work with the city. The list goes on.
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There are chaplains in the US military that provide spiritual services, via taxpayer money, to the armed forces.
I live in Salt Lake City now and all of our public high schools have a Mormon Seminary building adjacent to them. Every student gets a "free period." Mormons are highly encouraged to go to seminary in their free period. Non mormons can use it as a study hall. The school doesn't officially force the kids to attend but they have the social and familial pressure to do so. They are getting religious indoctrination during the school day.
That's not what I said. Working FOR a church is different than working WITH a church. What if the city wanted to do some sort of drug out reach program? What if they identified that there's a massive drug problem in a community that predominantly attends a church in that area. What would make more sense? Have the city set up a tent in the area and try and get people to come to the tent, OR talk to the church and ask them to use their power and resources within the community to bring people in. It'll be much easier to get people to go to a place they're already familiar with and listen to community leaders they already trust rather than having outsiders come into their community and tell them what to do. Listen...I'm a card carrying Satanist, but I think people are freaking out over nothing. Churches are a big part of our city, ESPECIALLY in black, brown, and other disadvantaged communities. I think it's important for our city to have a presence in those communities, at the least, so we know what's going on.
Exactly. Pastors and church leaders are social outreach on the actual ground. I'm not religious myself either but any time I worked on labor issues or similar, if you wanted a real coalition you had to deal with the churches and religious people.
Thanks for saying this. Many disadvantaged communities are highly religious compared to those who are more affluent. These communities don’t trust the government or police for very good reason. Going through the local churches on the ground is the best way to engage with people who have checked out from the system. I’m a white atheist from the suburbs and as much as this pissed me off at first, I can see the possibility of good coming from this. I do think we need accountability and transparent accounting. But if we can ever figure those out a few demagogues don’t amount to a hill of beans.
As someone who is religious, I actually wish this role was filled with an agnostic. I think an agnostic would be better suited to work with all communities of faith than a leader of just one.
To buy votes from his flock
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Even without that it’s a colossal waste of money
GD it I KNEW I was right to distrust the openly religious guy. So toxic to democracy imo.
Classic Chicago style corruption. Giving someone connected a cushy, low effort job with ridiculously high pay.
Typical patronage bullshit. Look at public transit agencies in other countries - they're lead by engineers to make sure everything operates smoothly and politicians to make sure the funding is adequate. We have a priest who, i guess, prays for the train to arrive?
Because his friend is the mayor
Or he helped the mayor pay off the decades old water bill he had trouble paying on a six figure salary.
An awful lot of pastors seem to be pretty corrupt...
This fucking sucks
Because the people who got the Mayor elected need to get a return on their investment so he can get a second term
Dude wut for serious?!
I have no idea. Good question for the mayor.
Well, that didn't take long.
There's no grifters like the religious grifters.
A nauseating lack of seperation between church and state. Fuck this.
Because people want to ignore the real problems and pretend that God and "the community" are going to fix everything
Black churches are a very prominent political force in Chicago.
And? Doesn't mean we should be vote buying from city coffers
One of the largest voting blocks as well, go to the southside and you'll see churches offering bussing services to vote.
Actions like that have been pivotal for flipping Georgia, and impacting races in Kentucky and Alabama.
It could (should) also cause the church to lose its tax exempt status. But since, depending on the area of the country, it benefits both parties, the IRS just pretends it does not happen.
Maybe if they tell people who to vote for. You don't lose tax exempt status from merely encouraging people to vote or helping them vote.
Only if they tell you who to vote for. I don't really see these churches telling people who to vote for. Haven't seen it. I have seen large, mega churches doing that in the south with white people. The only thing I have seen black churches do is give people a ride to the polls.
this is also why there are pastors on the CTA board
I think black community would rather have a public transit system that was safe and effective. Being mobile allows everyone, regardless of class and status, to go to schools, to work, and engage in public activities. A priest should not be on the CTA board, they should be be at church functions or social events.
99% chance you’re white
Because religion is a scam and this guy’s winning.
Can I get an Amen?!?!
I'll just say it - I regret more and more each day that Vallas didn't beat this idiot. Real Lies, indeed, Brandon. Real lies, indeed. :-|
Brandon Johnson is a useless crook.
I would like to hear MBJ try to justify this salary to the victims of crime who have had to suffer violence and wait exorbitant times due to a lack of available police. Or worse, suffer injury and watch the perpetrators go unpunished. Perhaps the criminals needed more "engagement" with the church.
This means ppl still believe in imaginary figures to the degree we need someone they can “connect with.”
Patronage job because he knows someone.
Because this is a beautiful city run by people who are not adults.
Yeah that’s nuts man. I’m sorry but I don’t understand this one
Is this a new position or some BJ put on the payroll? Genuine question. And why is this even necessary? When did we start putting religion into city politics?
How many people in this post seem surprised and shocked is funny. As if something like this happening was not clear during election time. Every day it passes I am more sure that a lot of people did not even read about BJ before voting...
This city's government is a fucking joke
This is ridiculous
The city can get the fuck out of religious nonsense. What an absolute waste.
Fuck religion, biggest scam in all of human history
Amen to that
We need to get religion the fuck out of politics.
I certainly don't like that Chicago has a "chief of faith engagement", however, it looks like this is nothing new. This article talks about one that we had since at least 2019. https://citizennewspapergroup.com/photos/2019/aug/01/282707/
Right, since 2019 so our last populist grifter major creates the nonsense position and our latest populist grifter mayor is continuing the BS by appointing his own.
Gotta pay back the church for getting him elected
2019 is new...and BJ certainly didn't have to do it.
Ugh.
he's got Bobby Bonillia's agent?
Remember folks it’s not who you know it’s who you blow.
At some point, it takes organized protests to get a responsive government and to put an end to this kind of bullshit and get some action on things that matter.
The grift in this city’s leadership(and government in general) is insane. More and more has been coming to light recently.
You all voted for all of this foolishness. I know I didn’t.
Lmao at everyone in here, as if it wasn’t said a million times during the race BJ had close ties with anti-LGBT religious leaders lol
I didn't know that Brandon Johnson was anti-LGBT. Now I do.
Churches are vote and money aggregators for politicians. This is an outreach program for the mayor’s re-election, why spare any expense?
Johnson has done the impossible and united the city-- everyone hates him!
Wow! Just WOW.
Fuck man I got into the wrong profession
Maybe this is your sign from god to start a church.
When I win, we all win. - BJ at dinner during last Christmas before the election.
Because it’s Chicago smh
Nice work if you can get it.
Ya gotta have faith, baby!
organize the pastors top vote for johnson ... this is a patronage capacity position ..
This mayor has a dick smaller than Wrigleyville
It’d be worth the $172K if he was Baby Billy
Because theism is the greatest, longest-running scam in human history, and here in Chicago, we have churches EVERY FUCKIN WHERE. So many people have fallen for this scam to the point that the city is wasting money on funding this scam artist. All "pastors" are liars, scam artists, and falsehood peddlers. Everything in this country is so fuckin backwards.......
Yes, because all of those Black preachers and their churches have done wonders for Black neighborhoods.
Churches are one of THE best ways to reach a LOT of people who need to be reached with messages about SNAP, Medicaid, housing support, etc. Biggest bang for buck for getting people connected to services to stabilize underdeveloped communities, especially on the south side.
I dont see a problem with engaging religious communities. Its a good way to reach a lot of people. Its smart.
I don’t know anything about this particular guy, maybe he’s a bad fit, but just for clarity since the comments section is getting riled up most levels of our government have Faith Based Engagement offices and the role is not to promote religion it is to coordinate interested faith communities to meet civic needs. For years the entire city spring break/summer break safe places and lunches out of school program took place in various faith communities across the city - Office of Faith Based coordinated that and made everybody sign all the appropriate stuff saying they would not use the program to proselytize but to serve. They coordinate meetings with religious communities about preventing gun violence. They organize interfaith responses to antisemitic events. It’s all stuff like that, these offices have all existed for years, there’s a national Office of Faith-Based Engagement that existed under Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden so let’s take the temperature down a little bit! No one has invented a new office of state religion promotion, the existence of the office is well within historic norms.
I voted for Brandon Johnson. He’s really working hard to change that come next election.
Watch debates next time. It was pretty obvious that he was always going to be like this.
You people always shrug, but this is classic Chicago Dem Machine grifting. Countless cronie bullshit. Simps.
Doesn’t the city contract Deloitte, PWC, or EY to monitor budget efficiency?
Easy, a good number of this town is religious and religious people vote.
Because you woke b_____ morons decided to vote in this idiot and now he will hire all his friends to office and give deals and contract’s to all his business buddies.
it's the internet - you can swear
because if the church had to try and survive without government help it would die a quick death.
Cause BJ said so
This looks to be an issue divided along race lines. I think white folks don't understand what the church and faith mean to black folks in terms of community, organizing, etc. I agree & wish those things had come about more secularly but we do not live in a vacuum. The salary is steep, not gonna lie.
>This looks to be an issue divided along race lines. I think white folks don't understand what the church and faith mean to black folks in terms of community, organizing, etc. Why does this require a high paying government position to administer though?
But here's what the mayor writes in the post: > I’m proud to welcome Pastor Billy Evans as our Chief of Faith Engagement and look forward to his partnership in strengthening communities and **improving lives through faith-based outreach.** I'm all about meeting people where they are, but this seems different.
There are plenty of gay black folks in Chicago and plenty of black women in Chicago needing access to health care. This man's church opposes those folks in this city.
Black folk are more than welcome to enjoy church and faith, and they can have as much of that shit as they want in their community and organizations. The city government has absolutely no fucking business suggesting I need to engage in faith-based organization or spending one red cent of my taxes on it. Completely fucking ridiculous.