FEMA rights a wrong

Richard A. Sokerka

When Hurricane Harvey struck the Houston area with a record flooding rainfall last August, many houses of worship, like thousands of homes, suffered significant damage.

But while the homeowners applied for help to rebuild when the floodwaters receded from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), houses of worship were denied any aid. FEMA told churches and synagogues that funds were limited to private nonprofits that were not affiliated with a religion, such as museums, libraries, community centers, and homeless shelters.

But three Texas churches that were damaged during Hurricane Harvey filed suit saying that they were being discriminated against for their religious beliefs as their requests for aid had been denied by FEMA. They did so with the full support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who also appealed in September to President Trump arguing that houses of worship were no different than other nonprofits, and had even assisted FEMA with their recovery efforts. Yet due to past FEMA policy, these organizations were barred from funds.

These combined efforts to change this discriminatory policy were rewarded Jan. 2 when FEMA announced that houses of worship damaged during the hurricane could retroactively apply to receive federal disaster relief funds, and any other church damaged in a storm in the future will also be eligible for these funds.

Over the course of the history of this nation, religious organizations have always played a major role in assisting in disaster recovery efforts with governmental agencies, so there was never really a single reason why the government should have excluded houses of worship from the same assistance available to any nonprofit.

In what can be termed as another victory for our religious freedom, FEMA righted a wrong in changing its discriminatory policy and going forward all houses of worship will benefit and be fairly treated in their time of need.