In recent weeks, President Bush has been drumming up more support for the war with Iraq.
The president’s Faith-Based Initiative plan involves giving federal funds to religious organizations that provide social services. He feels all groups, religious or secular, should compete on a level field.
Centers for Faith Based and Community Initiatives have already been set up in seven prominent federal agencies.
While Bush sees the plan as an opportunity to help citizens, many people, including some religious leaders who would benefit from the program, have raised concerns.
Two Columbus charities supports Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative.
“We support the initiative, it allows religious organizations to have an equal playing field with other non-profits,” said Sherry Keys-Hebron, president of Central Ohio Volunteers of America.
VOA is a religious organization that provides housing and employment services, as well as operation of many thrift stores.
“This is something that should have been in place a long time ago, in many cases, religious groups have done a much better job than secular groups,” Keys-Hebron said.
Nelson Meyer, president and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio, has worked with President Bush on the Faith-Based Initiative.
“It sounds simple, but it is a complex issue,” Meyer said. “I support most of the initiative.”
The strongest part of the program is ending discrimination against faith-based organizations, Meyer said.
“Both sides have issues with the program,” Meyer said. “The church sees it as government’s way of getting into their affairs and secular people see it as religions messing with government affairs.”
The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees with elements of the program that would give taxpayer dollars to religious groups that are allowed to discriminate in their hiring practices.
Under federal law, some religious organizations are permitted to discriminate by hiring only people of their particular faith.
“There is no problem with religious organizations that do good work, we just want them to play by the rules,” said Gabe Rottman, spokesman for the ACLU.
The ACLU is not opposed to funding religious charities. The problem is funding religious charities that have discriminatory hiring practices, Rottman said.
“This proposition strips away civil rights protections and uses taxpayer funds to support discrimination,” Rottman said.
Keys-Hebron agreed with the ACLU’s concern about federal dollars funding discrimination.
“It’s a legitimate point. We have the right to discriminate in hiring people, but we (VOA) don’t do it,” she said.
Meyer also agreed with the ACLU stance on discriminatory hiring. He does not support the idea of tax-payer dollars supporting organizations that practice discrimination.
“The president has been quite surprised that many religious groups have opposed this part of the program, which I oppose as well,” Meyer said.
While Meyer disagrees with the president on some issues in the program, he still supports Bush and the program.
“He’s clearly passionate about faith in life. When he starts talking about it, you can clearly see him become more animated. This is not an act or a move of political convenience,” Meyer said.
Meyer also sees a problem with with religious groups possibly being discriminatroy in the delivery of their services.
“You have to define how much of a groups’ faith base can carry over to their social service,” Meyer said. “If a certain faith believes that only certain people ae worthy of salvation, the quality of their service to others might be affected.”
This is a sticking point that could win up breaking the whole thing apart, he said.
“Our opposition to this isn’t about religion, it’s about discrimination. The Bush plan allows religious groups to get federal funds and use them to continue their policies of discrimination,” Rottman said.
Despite his opposition to certain parts of the plan, Meyer continues to express support for the initiative.
“I feel there is a way to stop the discrimination against faith-based organizations … There’s a lot of good associated with it,” Meyer said.
