Talk about Government 'cheese'
Publisher's note: File this under absurd. A well known and established Christian Ministry in Lake City, Florida was given a choice by the USDA between 'the government cheese' or Jesus. I'm happy to report that Jesus won the day.
Fox News: A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord” and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.
“They told us they could no longer allow us to have any religious information where the USDA food is going to be,” said Kay Daly, executive director of the Christian Service Center.
So why did the government have an issue with the religious group’s religious decorations? A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture told me they were following the guidelines written by the USDA.
“This program is a USDA-funded program and the requirements were outlined by the USDA,” spokesperson Amanda Bevis said. “This agency administers the program on the state level. Our staff did provide a briefing to CSC following turnover in leadership at CSC and did review the USDA requirements.”