Bush enacts 'faith-based' measure
By The Associated Press
12.12.02
WASHINGTON — President Bush is enacting by executive fiat key pieces of his divisive "faith-based initiative," including one that lets federal contractors display religious favoritism in their hiring.
Hoping to involve churches and religious organizations more deeply in government efforts to address social ills, Bush today signed an executive order aimed at giving those groups a leg up in the competition for federal money, administration officials said. His plan was also the subject of a speech to religious and charitable leaders in Philadelphia.
The president began pushing the issue on Capitol Hill in his second week in office and ran into a fierce debate over how religious groups could get government money without running afoul of the constitutional separation of church and state.
He was successful in the House but the Senate wouldn't even give him a watered-down version that focused on tax breaks for charitable giving.
Even with next year's total Republican control of Congress sure to create a more friendly environment, Bush decided to forge ahead on his own.
By far the most explosive of the changes is Bush's directive informing federal agencies that religious organizations refusing to hire people of any faith can still win contracts.
New regulations from the departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development also preserve the right of religious groups providing certain government-financed services to hire based on religion.
Broadly, Bush's executive order tells federal agencies to ensure religious groups are treated equally with others in all respects. Federal contractors also can no longer be denied federal money for displaying religious icons, such as a cross or a menorah.
The hiring issue was one of the central disputes as lawmakers considered Bush's proposals before. Civil rights law bars discrimination on the basis of religion, but constitutional problems arise when government money is involved.
Bush's aim is not to favor religious groups, merely to erase barriers to give them as fair a shake as any others, one senior official said. And the executive order restates that organizations cannot use federal funds to preach a particular faith, worship or provide religious instruction.
Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said religious groups would be allowed to discriminate in hiring while other groups could not.
"It's not equal treatment," he said. "It's special treatment for religious groups. ... In essence, the government is going to be funding religious discrimination."
Behind the president's push to expand the role of churches in addressing poverty, hunger, homelessness and drug abuse is his belief that they can be more effective than other groups in helping the needy. His administration — fueled by the religious conservative constituency that forms Bush's political base — contends that religious groups face unfair barriers.
White House officials cited the examples of the Victory Center Rescue Mission in Iowa, which was threatened with losing $100,000 in federal money because its governing board wasn't secular enough, and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty in New York, told it could not apply for a federal grant because the word "Jewish" was part of its name.
In other administrative changes being announced by Bush, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will now allow religious nonprofits such as schools and soup kitchens to get federal aid after natural disasters. The change was made retroactive to the beginning of Bush's term.
Finally, Bush was creating offices to help shepherd religious groups through the bureaucracy in two departments, Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development. That brings the total number of agencies with such offices to seven.
Later reaction to Bush's action:
"Under this scheme, taxpayers will be forced to support churches they don't believe in, and workers will be denied publicly funded jobs because they don't conform to religious mandates." — The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"I view President Bush's announcement today as a constructive step forward toward the goal that many of us share, which is to better harness the enormous potential of faith-inspired groups to help us help more Americans who are in need." — Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., a leading sponsor of scaled-down "faith-based" legislation in the Senate.
"Today, the president endorsed the practice of hanging signs on doors that say 'No Jews or Catholics Need Apply.' In fact, he not only endorsed it, he said that the taxpayers should pay for it." — Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
"I feel affirmed. Finally we have someone who is recognizing the contributions the little people make." — The Rev. Chuck Vedral, executive director The Father's Heart Ministry Center in New York, who said his church will apply for federal funds for welfare-to-work programs.
"The president's order, promoting key pieces of his faith-based initiative, not only usurps congressional power but lands as a slap in the face for religious organizations who have struggled to do good work for the needy in their community without government manipulation. ... This president is not doing religion a favor." — C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance Foundation, a Washington-based group that claims support from more than 50 faith traditions, including Muslims, Catholics, Protestants and Jews.
"This is an excellent step toward the full deployment of the armies of compassion. President Bush is effectively using his office to allow faith-based organizations to help more hungry, homeless and needy Americans." — House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts, R-Okla.
"The federal government should encourage programs that tear down discriminatory barriers in our society, but President Bush's new policy would resurrect barriers by changing federal policy that has been in place for more than 60 years." — Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
"The president's actions demonstrate his respect for the religious character of faith-based organizations, something the law itself has historically respected." — Gregory S. Baylor, director of Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom, an organization of 3,800 attorneys and law students based in Annandale, Va.