Faith-Based Programs

Index on government support for "faith-based programs

Grants to religious groups fall, study says

White House to rebut report in March [2-15-06]

A study released on Feb. 14 by the nonpartisan Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy shows that despite the Bush administration's rhetorical support for religious charities, the amount of direct federal grants to faith-based organizations declined from 2002 to 2004. White House officials immediately disputed the findings, and said they will release their own figures next month showing an increase in federal funding for religious groups.

Some critics of the President's Faith-Based Initiative have long contended that the administration is shifting who gets money, without increasing the total amount available to shelter the homeless, counsel prisoners and provide other social services.

The full article >> [Registration required, but there’s no charge.]

The theological roots of Bush’s faith-based initiative – something we need to understand
[4-26-05]

Lew Daly, who was the primary researcher for A Moment To Decide: The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism, published in 2000, has just published an article examining the political theology behind Pres. Bush's "faith-based initiative."

He begins by asserting that "quietly but steadily, the Bush administration is pursuing a seismic change in American politics and policy through its so-called faith-based initiative."

To understand it, he says, "we need to understand the intellectual convictions of its designers, as well as the initiative’s likely consequences. The consequences matter, and for those who are principally concerned about fighting poverty, and prepared to consider new means for conducting that fight—government support for religious groups may be less troubling at first glance. ... But from beginning to end, the faith-based initiative is about helping churches, not about reducing poverty or improving social services. Poor people and poor communities are discussed, but they are, in the end, incidental to the primary goal of establishing a new class of religious service providers."

Daly traces the intellectual roots of the "faith-based initiative" to the thinking of Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper in the late19th century, and the Roman Catholic social thinking summarized in Pope Pius XI’s 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno. Each of these affirmed the need for "pluralism" in secular states, by which they meant that religious bodies should be given an active place alongside the secular structures of the state – in education, social welfare, and more.

If you want to understand this development in order to deal seriously with it, here’s a very good place to begin.

Lew Daly, a Research Fellow of the Democracy Collaborative, studied Christian ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

Read the whole essay in Boston Review.

Judge blocks future grants to faith-based group

From the Presbyterian Washington Office [1-26-05]

A federal judge blocked the Bush administration from providing future "faith-based" grants to a Phoenix-based group that injected religion into its publicly funded programs.

The ruling is the first time a judge has struck down a grant through the president's faith-based initiative, which seeks to give religious groups equal footing in seeking federal grants to provide social services.

In December, the Department of Health and Human Services cut off funds to MentorKids USA, which had a grant to mentor the children of prisoners, after evidence showed the group used public money to directly support activities such as religious instruction. U.S. District Judge John Shabaz's ruling Tuesday prohibits the agency from funding MentorKids in the future.

As budgets shrink, more federal money is going to faith-based groups for work with the homeless [1-14-03]

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that 40% of the groups receiving federal grant funds to support work with the homeless are religious groups. This means that nonreligious groups that have received funds in the past are receiving less money this year, and will have to cut the number of beds they offer to homeless people. Both religious and nonreligious groups say that it appears to them that the religious groups received special treatment in the award process.

Bush begins implementing "Faith Based Initiative" by executive orders. The Presbyterian Washington Office offers a brief comments, and links to news reports. [12-14-02]

Bush's 'compassionate conservative' agenda driven by politics, not policy, says former White House staffer

Ex-'Faith Czar' DiIulio Criticizes 'Reign Of The Mayberry Machiavellis' [12-6-02]

Faith-based initiatives (a.k.a. charitable choice) gains new lease on life [10-15-02]

Representative J.C. Watts Jr, sponsor of the House version of the faith-based initiatives bill, said this past week that he will support the weaker Senate version of the bill.

Check out the Washington Times report.

Thanks to onReligion.com

"Faith-based initiative" becomes a tool for Republican candidates

[9-18-02]

The Washington Post reports that top officials in the Bush administration's "faith-based initiative" program are using the bait of government grants to attract interest and support for Republican candidates at political events around the country, often appealing especially to black audiences - particularly pastors.

There are critics of this use of dollars and religion, though. Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Tex.) commented: "Madison and Jefferson understood the lesson of human history - that when you start combining the power of politics and the power of religion, you end up with politicians using religion as means to their own ends."

President Bush's initiation of a new Office for Faith-Based Programs has raised many questions and concerns, as well as offering interesting new possibilities.

This page will guide you to the growing number of articles, reports and comments we're receiving on this issue.

If you want to add more material or share your own thoughts, please send a note! And don't forget to tell us who you are, and whether you're willing for your note to be published here.

Thanks!

Faith-based aid in the Senate

The Presbyterian Washington Office reports on the shape being given to the "faith-based initiative" in the U.S. Senate. The report includes a statement by

Compromise reached on "charitable choice" [2-6-02]

After a long struggle to get his idea of providing social aid to and through religious organizations, President Bush seems to be nearing a compromise in the U.S. Senate that would allow government funds to go to religious and other non-profit groups for social service programs. The compromise would not allow religious groups freedom to discriminate against lesbians and gay men in government-funded programs.

The proposed legislation would also allow individuals who do not itemize on their tax returns to take a deduction for charitable contributions.

This compromise may still face hurdles as it is negotiated with the version passed by the House last year, which went farther in blurring the lines of church-state separation.

The President is trying to increase support for his "faith-based initiative" by folding that office into his new push for voluntary service. The new director of The Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives, with Jim Towey as its new director, will be under John Bridgeland, who was recently named to head the volunteer initiative in the White House. The former director of Faith-Based Initiatives, John J. DiIulio, had direct access to the White House.

See the full story in the Washington Post for February 6, 2002.

The White House has named a new director for the beleaguered "faith-based initiative." [2-4-02]

The L. A. Times reports more fully on James Towey's background, and on current efforts at compromise.

"Common ground" on meeting human need?

A wide spectrum of religious and civil groups offers appropriate ways to provide help to people in need without violating separation of church and state. [1-17-02]

Princeton Seminary speaker defends "faith-based welfare reform." [11-28-01]

Gene TeSelle critiques James W. Skillen's call for a greater role of religion in public life as confusing a secular state with "secularism" and hostility to religion, and as ignoring what we have learned through our history about the destructive potential of religion in public life.

National groups urge President to postpone action on 'charitable choice' aid to churches

44 labor, religious, health and civil rights groups say 'faith-based' job bias is 'religiously divisive,' would undercut national unity. [10-3-01]

White House considers renewed drive to fund churches through ''faith-based initiative''

Bush push to win 'Charitable Choice' grants for religion would be deeply divisive, charges Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. [9-26-01]

Bush advances a "values campaign"? [8-2-01]

Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has issued a press release detailing what he sees as the many channels through which President George W. Bush is attempting to "merge religion and government" by advancing a "values campaign" which includes advancing religious revival, presenting himself as a moral leader, dealing with religious leaders to decide the question of stem cell research, urging abstinence-only for sex education ... and of course pushing his "faith-based initiative" and religious-school vouchers.

African-American bishop feels disillusioned by Bush "faith-based initiative" [7-27-01]

Bishop Harold Ray, who has been one of the strongest supporters for President Bush's faith-based initiative among African-American clergy, has grown disillusioned with the whole project. "There is open conflict between what's being said and what's being done," he says. The American Prospect offers an extensive report on why his views have changed.

Bush's early promises of a charitable deduction for taxpayers who don't itemize their deductions, and of a $700-million "federal Compassion Capital Fund" to help launch "faith-based" programs in the inner city, have both been dropped, and Ray feels disappointed in a President who has not kept his promises.

Washington Office offers update on late changes in Faith Based Initiatives bill, being debated today [7-18-01]

Recent changes make it more threatening than ever to church-state separation. A response is given to administration claims that the Clinton administration supported "charitable choice"

Bush 'faith-based' initiative clears House Ways and Means Committee

Americans United sees the measure as a "battering ram" aimed at the separation of church and state. [7-16-01]

Muslims are wary of White House efforts on Faith-Based Initiative politics. [7-16-01]

The Salvation Army and subsidiarity
(and what?? Read on!)

[7-11-01]

The recent claim by the Salvation Army of an agreement by President Bush to exempt religious groups from local and state civil rights laws affirming equal right for gay and lesbian people is just the most current example of how important the old notion of "the principle of subsidiarity" can be even today.

Gene TeSelle explores how this concept is used both to justify and to limit an active role of central governments in local matters.

He also considers its application in the development of European Union policies.

For the first report in the Washington Post of the Salvation Army statement, click here. And for the Post's report on White House denials of such a "deal," click here.

And for other points of view:

Equal Partners in Faith issued a statement on July 10, opposing the use of government funding to permit discrimination.

And Christianity Today sees the Salvation Army as victims of attacks, rather than as perpetrators of discrimination.
[posted here on 7-11-01]

Americans United for Separation of Church and State calls for action on "Charitable Choice" proposal in House of Representatives [7-7-01]

UCC Justice and Peace Ministry provides information for those wanting to urge Congress to remove the Charitable Choice provision from H.R. 7, now in Congress. [6-27-01]

Talk of "completed Jews" by director of one of Bush's favorite faith-based organizations gives rise to new concerns. [6-4-01]

Leaders of Equal Partners in Faith have expressed renewed concerns about President Bush's efforts to give tax-payer money directly to religious groups and organizations that provide social services.

This came partly in response to comments by John Castellani, executive director of Teen Challenge International, one of President Bush's favorite faith-based organizations. During testimony before the House Government Reform subcommittee, which was investigating the effectiveness of religiously provided social services, Castenelli reported that his organization has converted Jews to Christianity, thereby making them--in his words--"completed Jews."

Religious and other leaders condemn the Bush plans for "charitable choice" as a way to help religious groups and not the poor
[4-18-01]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on a recent panel discussion at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, in which six leaders viewed the Administration's plan for faith-based social services as a deception which would threaten even existing programs by diverting scarce funds.

Ralph Goldberg, a panelist and civil rights attorney, said that "George Bush's compassionate conservatism is neither conservative nor compassionate. He's a fraud. It's totally, utterly ridiculous."

The Rev. Timothy McDonald, president of the Concerned Black Clergy and a former Emory University professor, views Bush's plan as fundamentally flawed because it provides for no new funding, thus creating more competition for funds among nonprofit organizations.

"It's a hoax, and it's a lie because there ain't no new money," he said. "It's his payback to the Christian Coalition. It's a way to pacify them. The radical right has never been a friend of inner-city kids, blacks, Jews, Muslims. He's trying to buy the silence of the black church, but the black church is not for sale."

Check out the full story.
Thanks to onReligion.com

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has written a thoughtful critique of the President's proposal to provide government funding for religiously based social service programs. But ... faith-based air traffic control??? [3-14-01]

Interfaith Alliance and Baptist group issue booklet dealing with government funding through religious groups

[3-14-01]

The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and The Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs are publishing a free educational booklet, "Keeping the Faith: The Promise of Cooperation, The Perils of Government Funding: Guidelines for Houses of Worship," that will offer guidance and information to religious leaders searching for answers on how to serve those in need without jeopardizing their autonomy or the constitutional and civil rights of those served.

The Dallas Morning News web site carries an AP report on the launching of the project, which aims to distribute 20,000 copies of the booklet around the country.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has issued a press release, dated 3-13-01, analyzing the reasons for the Administration's pull-back on their proposed use of religious groups for government programs.

Most of the analysis of "charitable choice" that we have published here has been critical of Pres. Bush's initiative to use faith-based organizations in government programs.

Here is an essay offering a theological perspective on charitable choice which takes a more positive view of the program. The author, the Rev. Dr. Nile Harper, is a Presbyterian pastor, an officer of Semper Reformanda, and former professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. [3-7-01]

The author has also provided information clarifying what is meant by the "charitable choice" program, and some practical suggestions for participating in it.

The Rev. Dr. Harold Dean Trulear, one of the designers of Pres. Bush's new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, spoke recently in Nashville about his hopes and strategies for the program. Gene TeSelle reports, and explains his concerns. [2-19-01]

Faith-based Charity ... is still charity

Jane Hanna, President of The Witherspoon Society, considers the ambiguities of the new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, seeing the threat to diversity and the danger that any "charity" will neither empower nor respect the recipients of aid. [2-15-01]

Pastor calls for skepticism about claims for the effectiveness of religious organizations in social service
[2-17-01]

Charles Henderson, host of the "Christianity - General" section of about.com, and Presbyterian pastor, responds critically and in detail to what he sees as exaggerated claims about the efficiency of faith-based organizations, compared to governments, in providing help to the poor.

Is it charitable choice or culture wars?

Comments by President Bush suggest that his new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is really a way to channel federal funds into one side of our "culture wars." Gene TeSelle offers some thoughts and some questions. [2-13-01]

The new emphasis on linking religion and government raises new concerns about freedom of religion. Gene TeSelle reviews a recent article on the subject.

Bush's "faith-based initiative" threatens "a revolution in church-state relations"

Commentary by Gene TeSelle, based on notes from a speech by Candidate George W. Bush in July, 2000.
[2-9-01]

In August, 2000, Gene TeSelle noted that "Charitable choice" looked like a mixed blessing -- and one to which attention should be given. Visit this page for links to other early stories.

A Christian statistician raises questions about faith-based social action programs

[2-5-01]

As momentum builds in support of President Bush's office for faith-based social programs, some are raising questions about constitutional church-state issues. But one professor at Calvin College has other concerns.

Dr. Fred DeJong teaches statistics at Calvin College, and is himself active in faith-based programs. But he is concerned that the high expectations for religious programs are not based on valid data. Even the Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis, one of the nation's leading sponsors of research on religion, acknowledges that "We haven't done a lot of research in this area, and I don't know why," according to spokesperson Gretchen Wolfram.

Other observers are quoted as questioning the reports results of specific programs, especially in Texas.

You'll find the article in the Dallas Morning News.

Bush plan for religion-based charity raises a host of church-state issues
This Presbyterian News Service report from January 29, 2001, quotes one source as affirming that "Government money will help us do what Jesus has told us to do." Other are not so sure.

Equal Partners in Faith expresses concern about dismantling of the church-state wall of separation.

Charles Henderson, the proprietor of the "Christianity -- General" forum on about.com, ponders President Bush's funding of religious organizations.