Shutdown prevents taxpayer money paying for religious indoctrination of students

[muriel_volestrangler]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The federal government shutdown has scrambled plans for a Missouri prayer breakfast after Ben Carson had to cancel as the keynote speaker.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development said Wednesday that the agency could not pay for the secretary’s travel to Missouri because of the shutdown.
...
The breakfast hosted during the first week of the legislative session typically draws hundreds of people. Ticket proceeds benefit a leadership forum on faith and values for college students.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/carson-prayer-breakfast-speech-canceled-shutdown

So the plan was to use federal taxes to fly Carson there as an attraction for ticket sales. Those tickets would then fund "a leadership forum on faith and values for college students". As Friendly Atheist says:

It raises an important question: Why the hell were American taxpayers funding Carson’s trip to Missouri so he could promote Christianity?

This speech presumably had no political significance outside of a Trump administration official shoring up the conservative Christian base, and while the site doesn’t explicitly say the event is for Christians only, there are no non-Christian speakers.

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/01/09/because-of-shutdown-ben-carson-cant-fly-to-missouri-for-a-prayer-breakfast/

Separation of church and state - a nice idea, but I wonder if it'll catch on anywhere in reality?

[atreides1]

1. Carson is a cheap bastard!!!

The man has money, he could have paid for his own plane ticket, he could have rented a private jet!!!

This goes to show how strong his "faith" is!!!

[Turbineguy]

2. Hmm..... the evangelicals are going to start complaining about trump.

Porking pornstars, being a Russian asset, and stealing money is one thing, not brainwashing young people could be a problem.