Slipped Mickey
12-12-2002, 06:53 AM
Bush is going to shove religion down your throat whether you like it or not. Frankly it's another Democrat move, putting more and bigger government in your life and doing so against the wishes of most Americans. This program is such bullshit. Churches are in a very real sense saying "we won't do it now but if you pay us to we'll become more altruistic." Give me a damn break.
Bush to bypass Congress on 'faith-based' charities
BY RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Posted on Wed, Dec. 11, 2002
WASHINGTON - President Bush today will issue a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to let religious charities compete for social-service grants and contracts, bypassing Congress on a sensitive church-state issue.
With his "faith-based" initiative stalled in the Senate, Bush will push his agenda forward with the stroke of a pen at a conference of religious charities in Philadelphia. Administration officials said the order would help clear the way for government assistance to religious organizations that serve the poor.
The order is intended to make sure that faith-based groups can retain their religious identities, including the right to hire workers based on religion, while accepting federal tax dollars. But it will prohibit the use of federal tax money for worship services, religious instruction or other "inherently religious" activity.
Bush's plan to let religious groups tap into the federal treasury for charitable work was a key element of his "compassionate conservative" agenda in his 2000 presidential campaign. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved Bush's proposal six months after he took office, but it bogged down in the Democratic-controlled Senate because of concerns about the separation of church and state.
Rob Boston, a spokesman for the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the president's action "an end run around the democratic process" that blurs the line between government and religion.
"What Bush wants to do is make it possible for religious groups to get federal funds and continue to discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring their staffs. That's essentially taxpayer support for religious discrimination," Boston said. "Discrimination on any grounds is anathema to the American people."
Although the executive order will accomplish much of what Bush wants to do, it won't end the debate over faith-based legislation. Administration officials said Bush would continue to press Congress to remove the legal barriers that make it hard for religious groups to get federal money.
"The president basically is making clear that he's going to do everything within his authority to seek to put an end to discrimination against faith-based groups," a senior administration official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's taking some pretty sweeping action to do what he campaigned to do. ... They're bold steps."
The plan has critics at both ends of the political spectrum. Some liberals fear that faith-based groups would use government money to promote religious views. Some conservatives worry that accepting federal money would dilute the spirituality and effectiveness of religious charities.
"This initiative recognizes the power of faith in helping heal some of our nation's wounds," Bush said at a White House event earlier this year. "I have faith that faith will work in solving the problems."
The president's executive order is welcome news for advocates of closer cooperation between the government and religious charities.
"I'm as happy as I can be," said the Rev. Herb Lusk, the pastor at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia. "Churches have their hands on the pulse-beat of what's going on. There's a networking system that's beneath the radar of some big bureaucracies."
Bush also will direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to revise its policies to let religious nonprofit organizations qualify for disaster relief. The White House became aware of the issue when the Seattle Hebrew Academy, a private religious school, was denied disaster aid after an earthquake.
Another executive order will create faith-based offices at the Agriculture Department and the Agency for International Development, to help religious charities tap into programs that those agencies run. Bush already has established similar offices at five other federal agencies.
His Philadelphia visit comes 10 days after John Dilulio, the former head of the White House office on faith-based programs, made headlines with some stinging criticism of his former boss.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Dilulio said the Bush White House was consumed by politics and treated policy as an afterthought. Dilulio, now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, later retracted his comments.
Bush to bypass Congress on 'faith-based' charities
BY RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Posted on Wed, Dec. 11, 2002
WASHINGTON - President Bush today will issue a sweeping executive order directing federal agencies to let religious charities compete for social-service grants and contracts, bypassing Congress on a sensitive church-state issue.
With his "faith-based" initiative stalled in the Senate, Bush will push his agenda forward with the stroke of a pen at a conference of religious charities in Philadelphia. Administration officials said the order would help clear the way for government assistance to religious organizations that serve the poor.
The order is intended to make sure that faith-based groups can retain their religious identities, including the right to hire workers based on religion, while accepting federal tax dollars. But it will prohibit the use of federal tax money for worship services, religious instruction or other "inherently religious" activity.
Bush's plan to let religious groups tap into the federal treasury for charitable work was a key element of his "compassionate conservative" agenda in his 2000 presidential campaign. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved Bush's proposal six months after he took office, but it bogged down in the Democratic-controlled Senate because of concerns about the separation of church and state.
Rob Boston, a spokesman for the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the president's action "an end run around the democratic process" that blurs the line between government and religion.
"What Bush wants to do is make it possible for religious groups to get federal funds and continue to discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring their staffs. That's essentially taxpayer support for religious discrimination," Boston said. "Discrimination on any grounds is anathema to the American people."
Although the executive order will accomplish much of what Bush wants to do, it won't end the debate over faith-based legislation. Administration officials said Bush would continue to press Congress to remove the legal barriers that make it hard for religious groups to get federal money.
"The president basically is making clear that he's going to do everything within his authority to seek to put an end to discrimination against faith-based groups," a senior administration official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's taking some pretty sweeping action to do what he campaigned to do. ... They're bold steps."
The plan has critics at both ends of the political spectrum. Some liberals fear that faith-based groups would use government money to promote religious views. Some conservatives worry that accepting federal money would dilute the spirituality and effectiveness of religious charities.
"This initiative recognizes the power of faith in helping heal some of our nation's wounds," Bush said at a White House event earlier this year. "I have faith that faith will work in solving the problems."
The president's executive order is welcome news for advocates of closer cooperation between the government and religious charities.
"I'm as happy as I can be," said the Rev. Herb Lusk, the pastor at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia. "Churches have their hands on the pulse-beat of what's going on. There's a networking system that's beneath the radar of some big bureaucracies."
Bush also will direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to revise its policies to let religious nonprofit organizations qualify for disaster relief. The White House became aware of the issue when the Seattle Hebrew Academy, a private religious school, was denied disaster aid after an earthquake.
Another executive order will create faith-based offices at the Agriculture Department and the Agency for International Development, to help religious charities tap into programs that those agencies run. Bush already has established similar offices at five other federal agencies.
His Philadelphia visit comes 10 days after John Dilulio, the former head of the White House office on faith-based programs, made headlines with some stinging criticism of his former boss.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Dilulio said the Bush White House was consumed by politics and treated policy as an afterthought. Dilulio, now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, later retracted his comments.