mr. chairman , first , the first half of the gentleman 's remarks previously are irrelevant . 
we are not disputing the importance of including faith-based groups as providers . 
when this question came up years ago , i was ardently for it . 
no one is trying to prevent faith-based groups from providing the service . 
no one is saying that a faith-based using its own money , using private money , using private donations has to pay any attention to the question of hiring if they choose to have only their religious co-workers . 
the question is if a faith-based group wants to take federal money paid for by every taxpayer in this country , is it a violation of their religious character to say , with that federal money , they must not discriminate in hiring ? 
the religious character being imputed to these groups makes me think that we are talking about the constitution of the iraq . 
what is this ? 
the sunnis should not have to hire the shias ? 
the shias should not have to deal with the kurds ? 
what is the principle here ? 
are we not trying to promote the notion of people living together ? 
what religious group taking federal money says , `` you know what , i want to help these poor people , but not with a jew , '' `` i can not have a baptist working for me , '' `` no mormon need apply '' ? 
we are not talking about administering religious services . 
we are not talking about performing religious rites . 
we are talking about taking federal money to perform what has to be , remember , a secular service . 
we all agree to that . 
if it were not a wholly secular service , no one would expect us to be funding it with federal money . 
and this is the question i have to ask my friends . 
of course we want religious groups there . 
why is it so terrible to tell jews that they must associate with baptists if federal money is being spent to provide child care services ? 
what violation of the religious right of a catholic is to say you have to hire a methodist ? 
how are episcopalians being deprived of their religious integrity if they are told that , you know what , when you have federal money in this program , if you hire a presbyterian , that is okay . 
i mean , this is fundamental , we thought , in america . 
again , we are talking about federal money , and we are talking about not imputing to religious groups an insistence on bigotry and discrimination in the spending of federal funds . 
