House holds first-ever hearings on charitable choice
___By Kenny Byrd
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--Five years after legislating its first "charitable-choice" measure, the House of Representatives for the first time held a hearing devoted specifically to the concept.
___Charitable choice, which first become law in a 1996 welfare-reform package signed by President Clinton, has since been attached to numerous spending measures, but before now Congress has not held hearings on the concept.
___Expansion of charitable choice is a cornerstone of President Bush's major initiative to fund faith-based providers of social services. Lawmakers at an April 24 committee hearing argued both pro and con.
___GOP lawmakers said the initiative would level the playing field for religious groups previously denied government funding. Democrats countered that the plan is unnecessary and would undermine civil-rights laws by allowing tax-funded church organizations to discriminate in hiring based on religious beliefs.
___Of the four witnesses called to testify at the hearing, only one opposed charitable choice.
___"All too often a friendly pat on the back by Uncle Sam turns into a hostile shove by Big Brother," warned Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, a Washington-based religious liberty organization.
___Under charitable choice, Walker said, a Baptist church, for example, could take federal money while hanging a sign saying "no Catholics or Jews need apply" to the Baptist-run federally funded facility.
___Walker also said majority religions would have an unfair advantage over minority faiths in competing for funds. "It's the Baptist in Birmingham over the Buddhist in Birmingham who's going to get the money," he said.
___A supporter of charitable choice, however, said such measures that have been voted into law are working "so far so good."
___Amy Sherman, senior fellow of the Welfare Policy Center at the Hudson Institute, based her testimony on a nine-state survey that indicates collaboration between church and state is plausible.
___"Faith-based funding is not for everyone," Sherman acknowledged. "Some lack the necessary administrative capacity for managing government contracts of any significant size. Others, based on their religious doctrines, cannot in good conscience accept government funding."
___For many faith-based organizations, however, "collaborating with government may be a fruitful strategy that advances their mission and strengthens their community development projects," she said.
___Two witnesses spoke on behalf of faith-based groups that presently use government grants.
___Donna Lawrence Jones of Cookman United Methodist Church in Philadelphia said her church opted not to form a separate organization for social services because it looked unfamiliar to church members who started the program. The church members wanted "to maintain the integrity of the church and wanted ownership of the ministry," she said.
___"The government collaboration has increased the level of bureaucracy and paperwork we were used to," Jones said. "For the most part, this has been welcomed. We have better records than we would have."
___Meanwhile, Charles Clingman, executive director of the Jireh Development Corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio, said his group formed a separate non-profit entity to receive government funding.
___Lawmakers posed tough questions throughout the hearing.
___Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., questioned witnesses about charitable choice's provision that would allow, for the first time since civil-rights laws were enacted in 1964, employment discrimination with tax-funded jobs.
___Civil-rights laws exempt churches, permitting them to hire only people who agree with their religious views. Before now, however, churches have not been able to receive tax dollars while enjoying that exemption.
___Jones responded to another member of Congress that even if the organization is funded with tax dollars, "persons that are involved in instruction should share the religion of the group they are working for."
___Scott said after the hearing: "It has been against the law for more than 40 years. I am surprised that there is not a greater sensitivity to this--that a lot of people seem comfortable with this as if there is something natural about it."
___Scott also said charitable choice would lead to government officials picking "good" and "bad" religions when deciding whom to fund.
___Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, chair of the subcommittee, told ABP that there would be two more hearings on the matter, including one "field hearing," outside of Washington. "When the Bush administration feels it an appropriate time, we will move forward with the legislation," Chabot said.
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