Don't Go To Church? No Insurance For You!

It's no secret to those of us who have experienced the phenomenon first-hand, but the truth is that church-going in this country is primarily a social, not a religious activity.

Even the freakazoid churches recognize this, evidenced by the number that have turned themselves into giant socialist utopias, offering their members daycare for both children and elders, dining halls, movie theaters, full gym facilities, tutoring and adult-education classes, field trips, overseas travel, shopping discounts, ad nauseum.

Not only do such self-contained communities attract new members and bind existing members, they undermine the whole concept of American secular community. Why are you paying taxes to support parks and museums and libraries and colleges that welcome muslins and ni**ers and teh gheys when everything you could ever need is right here at church?

But in Kentucky, the ridiculousness approached its logical endgame with an insurance policy available only to churchgoers.

From the Courier-Journal:

But the policies didn't seem right to Baize, an atheist, or to Valenzuela, an agnostic, because the benefits the company and its agents advertised are available only to Christian churchgoers, according to court records.

They filed complaints with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights and later the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleging discrimination based on religion by the West Des Moines, Iowa, company and two agencies that sell its policies in Louisville and Lexington, Ky.

On Sept. 18, the U.S. Justice Department announced a settlement in which GuideOne, Young Insurance Agency of Louisville and Lee Insurance Agency of Lexington agreed to pay $45,000 in civil penalties — plus $29,500 to Baize, Valenzuela and the Lexington Fair Housing Council, which investigated their complaints.

The settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Court, also requires GuideOne, which marketed the FaithGuard endorsement in at least 18 other states, to stop selling the policy anywhere in the United States and to train agents on their responsibilities under the U.S. Fair Housing Act, which the Justice Department had accused the company of violating.

“All individuals have the right to secure homeowner's and renter's insurance without regard to their religious beliefs,” Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

Read the whole thing.