June 12, 2000
Federal funding of faith-based drug programs closer
___By Kenny Byrd
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--In an effort to help impoverished communities, President Bill Clinton and top congressional leaders have agreed to back a bill that includes a controversial provision funding drug-rehab programs that are faith based.
___House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and a bipartisan group of lawmakers joined Clinton at a White House press event May 23 to endorse the American Community Renewal Act. The measure first was introduced several years ago by Reps. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., and Jim Talent, R-Mo.
___Sponsors hope to steer the bill through the House of Representatives by the end of June. It would identify 40 impoverished "renewal communities," making them eligible for tax incentives and home-ownership opportunities.
___But the faith-based initiative popularly known as "charitable choice" has raised church-state concerns, and the agreement has angered some congressional Democrats.
___The language and details of the agreement still are being hammered out. But earlier versions of the act would allow religious organizations, such as churches, to receive tax dollars without altering the religious character of their drug programs.
___Critics say the faith-based initiative could open the door for lawsuits against churches that accept funds.
___In April, Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, which receives nearly two-thirds of its funding from the state, was sued by civil-liberties groups for firing a lesbian employee. The lawsuit charges that the woman lost her job because she did not share religious views of the Baptist agency.
___Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., blasted the White House-GOP agreement. "I oppose funding religious bigotry with federal money," he said. "You haven't been able to discriminate based on religion in hiring with federal money since we passed the civil rights laws of the 1960s.
___"Under this plan--while receiving federal dollars--you could tell a job applicant to his face that 'we don't hire your kind because of your religion,'" he said. "That is now illegal in this country, but under this provision it will be legal."
___Another critic of the faith-based initiative is Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas.
___"I am not optimistic that the Congress or the White House will protect the principle of church-state separation when it comes to the issue of charitable choice," Edwards said. "Hopefully the Supreme Court will rule unconstitutional what is a huge chink in the wall of separation between church and state."
___Edwards said he could think of no better way to create religious animosity and dissension in America than to "put billions of federal dollars on the table and tell churches to compete for that money.
___"If anyone thinks the federal government will fund religious organizations to the tune of billions of dollars and will not regulate them, then they are blind to the realities of government," Edwards said.
___The church-state issues come down to whether the bill in its final form will allow "pervasively sectarian" organizations to receive funds. Both the White House and the GOP agree it will be implemented in a "constitutional" manner, but they appear to have different opinions of what that means.
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