FEMA’s religious discrimination is a disaster

Most Floridians and many Americans have heard of the chainsaw-wielding nun, Sister Margaret Ann, clearing debris after Hurricane Irma. When police told her others would clear the trees, the sister said they were dangerous and she couldn’t wait.

In Texas, after Hurricane Harvey, staff and congregants of the United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston rescued dozens of people of all faiths. The UOS itself is flooded and mostly unusable for this week’s High Holidays.

Sister Margaret and the congregants of UOS are emblematic of the role that houses of worship and religious communities play in helping clean up after natural disasters. We don’t wait for the local or federal government. But when we are in need ourselves after a disaster, the federal government tells us we cannot receive aid because we’re religious.

Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nonprofit organizations that are open to the public are eligible to apply for federal aid to rebuild structural damage. Botanical gardens and octopus research centers have received this aid. But for decades, FEMA has excluded houses of worship — churches, synagogues and mosques — from eligibility because they are not open to all. There is no law passed by Congress that requires FEMA to take this position. On the contrary, the House passed a bipartisan bill in 2013 to allow churches to apply.

Churches that have applied despite the bar of funding to houses of worship have been caught up in years of waiting and red tape that has led only to denial in the end. Take Mount Nebo Bible Baptist Church, which was submerged under 20 feet of water from Hurricane Katrina. The church applied despite FEMA’s policy, and almost 10 years after being flooded, was denied aid.

But mold waits for no one, not even the federal government.

St. Peter the Fisherman Church in Big Pine Key, Fla., sustained such significant damage in Hurricane Irma that no one is currently allowed in the church. St. Peter was the center of recovery efforts after Hurricane Georges in 1998. Among its many ministries, the parish runs a food bank that serves an average of 500 people each month, regardless of their religious affiliation. St. Peter members must now figure out how to rebuild themselves, even as they look to serve others in need.

FEMA’s refusal to help churches like St. Peter on an equal footing with other nonprofits isn’t just unfair, it is also religious discrimination. And by refusing aid to the very entities so engaged in helping others, FEMA’s policy by extension also hurts the broader community.

If a house of worship meets all the criteria for aid, it should be eligible to receive that aid on par with everyone else.

Firefighters don’t refuse to put out a fire because the fire is at a synagogue. The police don’t refuse to investigate a break-in because burglars targeted a church. And FEMA should not refuse houses of worship the same aid that it offers other non-profits.