NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — Speaking from a pulpit once used by Martin Luther King Jr., President Bush announced Jan. 15 a further expansion of the government's ability to fund social services through churches and other religious groups.
The announcement is the latest in a long series of actions by the Bush administration to make it easier for explicitly religious charities to compete for government grants on the same basis as secular groups. It is commonly referred to as Bush's “faith-based initiative.”
Bush made the announcement in remarks at Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in New Orleans. Later in the day, he flew to Atlanta to lay a wreath at King's grave on what would have been the slain Baptist minister and civil-rights leader's 75th birthday.
“Dr. King understood that faith is [a] power greater than all others,” Bush said. “It's an important lesson for us to remember here in America that God's Word can humble the mighty, can lift up the meek, and can bring comfort and strength to all who yearn for justice and freedom. Those of us who are involved with public policy must not fear that philosophy as we all work together to save lives.”
The regulatory changes apply to programs administered by the Department of Justice. The new rules open $3.7 billion in federal funds to churches and other religious groups for programs dealing with support for crime victims and preventing child abuse.
The administrative rule change follows several similar announcements since December 2002, as well as recent efforts by Bush's Republican allies in Congress to expand faith-based funding in some federal programs by attaching provisions to routine spending bills.
The initiative has been the centerpiece of Bush's domestic social agenda. Supporters argue that faith-based groups are often more effective at providing social services than governmental or secular providers, and should be funded by government.
But critics have said providing direct government funding to religious groups violates the Constitution's prohibition on government establishment of religion. Some also contend that government encroachment on the freedom of religious groups will follow on the heels of government funding — and that debates over whether a particular group, such as a Muslim group, receives funding will create religious strife in the civic sphere.
Bush, in his speech, said all religious groups can do work worthy of government support. “Miracles happen as a result of the love of the Almighty, professed, by the way — taught, by the way — by religions from all walks of life, whether it be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu — people who have heard that universal call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself,” he said.
Although Bush tried to get Congress to implement the faith-based initiative shortly after he took office in 2001, opposition based on such concerns killed the legislation in the Senate.
The first wave of regulatory changes came in a December 2002 announcement. The most recent action essentially achieves the same goals that Bush's original faith-based legislation would have — but bypasses Congress.
Among the most controversial aspects of the regulatory changes are provisions that explicitly allow religious organizations receiving government funding to discriminate on the basis of religion in their hiring practices.
The leader of a group opposed to government funding for churches said Bush tying such regulatory changes to King's birthday was ironic. “Under the president's plan, churches would be allowed to discriminate in hiring with public funds. That's taxpayer-subsidized job discrimination,” said Barry Lynn, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and state, in a Jan. 15 press release.
“It is hypocritical of President Bush to lay a wreath at the grave of Dr. King on the same day he is pushing a plan to roll back vital civil-rights protections,” he continued. “This is disgraceful.”
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