godmoneyA small provision in the economic stimulus package working its way through the U.S. Senate is angering the religious right.

Current proposals to repair or renovate higher education facilities stipulate that those funds cannot be spent on buildings that feature religious worship. That has sparked outcry from all corners of the religious right, who say the bill would ban students from holding Bible study or even gathering to pray on campuses.

Civil libertarians point out that the proposed rule is simply the law of the land, and federal funds can never be used to repair or renovate churches, synagogues or mosques.

“Buried in the rubble of President Obama’s $1 trillion monstrous pork/stimulus plan is a section that bans Christian Bible studies, worship services and other religious activities from many public education buildings!” wrote the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) in an fundraising pitch to supporters.

“The economic crisis is being used as a pretext to curb religious liberty at institutions of higher learning.”

TVC has been heavily lobbying Senators to have the provision deleted, the group said.

“In order to receive stimulus money our public schools will have to expel after-school Bible clubs and weekend religious meetings,” said Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel, a part of the late-Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.

“People who want to speak about their faith will be unwelcome in public places.”

Even Minnesota’s religious right is joining in on the pressure to remove the stipulation.

“Even I was surprised to see an effort by U.S. House democrats to use the economic stimulus bill to stifle religious expression at institutions receiving public dollars,” wrote Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council.

“I have no concerns about who will win the battle between God and His protagonists but in the meanwhile his opponents are under the delusion they can be successful. A fly eating an elephant is analogous albeit in a very superficial way.”

But as civil libertarians point out, the rule is fairly straight-forward and follows existing constitutional requirements. The bill reads:

PROHIBITED USES OF FUNDS.—No funds awarded under this section may be used for—

(A) the maintenance of systems, equipment, or facilities, including maintenance associated with any permissible uses of funds described in paragraph (1);

(B) modernization, renovation, or repair of stadiums or other facilities primarily used for athletic contests or exhibitions or other events for which admission is charged to the general public;

(C) modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities—

(i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or

(ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission; or

(D) construction of new facilities.

“It’s almost a restatement of what the Constitution requires so there’s nothing novel in what the House did in its restriction,” Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel to the ACLU told Fox News.

“For 37 years, the law of the land is that the government can’t pay for buildings that are used for religious purposes.”

Even if it is the law, however, some religious right groups plan to sue the federal government if the bill is not changed. “If this discriminatory provision is not removed from the package and is approved and signed into law, we’ll file a lawsuit in federal court challenging this provision,” said the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal outfit created by Pat Robertson to counter the ACLU.

But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from making moves to alter the bill. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., attempted to amend the stimulus bill to allow Christian colleges to use the stimulus money to promote religion.

“Why is an economic stimulus bill being used to kick religious groups off college campuses? It is a clear violation of students’ constitutional rights and it should disturb Americans that they are trying to slip this through while people are concerned about the economy. The real question is who inserted this discrimination into the bill, and why,” a spokeman for DeMint told Fox.

However, the bill would not kick religious groups off campus and it would not prevent schools for getting money for buildings where students hold Bible study — unless that building’s purpose is specifically for Bible study.

The falsehoods surrounding the bill have hit the religious right echo chamber so hard that People for the American Way issued a special report over the flap.

“The creation of a phony crisis that DeMint’s amendment was supposed to solve is a case study of Religious Right leaders’ strategic use of false alarms about threats to religious liberty – and of the willingness of right-wing media and elected officials to play along,” wrote the report’s authors. “Watch now, in the wake of the amendment’s defeat, for Religious Right leaders to use the vote as ‘evidence’ that Democrats are hostile to people of faith and to try to undermine support from religious Americans for the new administration.”

DeMint’s amendment did fail on Thursday, and the $3.5 billion in stimulus money allocated for higher education repairs will not be able to be used to renovate churches, synagogues or mosques.

Religious right legal groups have vowed to file a lawsuit as soon as President Obama signs the bill.