Establish Durable Firewalls Against Religious Coercion

If the Bush administration is committed to expanding government support for faith-based programs, every component of these initiatives must abide by legal and practical safeguards.

For one thing, President Bush must ensure that recipients of federal funds comply with the requirements and restrictions that are imposed upon all government-funded activity by the religion clause of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

This is not as simple as it may seem. The U.S. Supreme Court has never approved of direct government funding to underwrite the religious mission of pervasively sectarian institutions, including houses of worship, because funding would violate the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”). Legal experts are still trying to determine exactly what the court’s parameters are.

Meanwhile, we can all agree that no program beneficiary should be subjected to unwanted proselytizing when he or she receives government-funded social services, and secular alternatives to religiously provided services should be made available.

Furthermore, Bush must make sure that taxpayer money does not fund religious discrimination in the hiring and firing of people who will deliver the services. He also must require that proper firewalls are established between government-funded services and the core religious activities of faith-based organizations. Taxpayer dollars cannot and must not be channeled into other religious activities of sectarian organizations.

These safeguards can best be implemented by encouraging each religious organization to establish a separate corporate structure for its government-funded social welfare organization. Past experience with Catholic Charities, Jewish Federations and Lutheran Social Services has demonstrated that these safeguards do not interfere with the ability to provide excellent service to needy citizens.

Most Americans share President Bush’s appreciation for the vital role religious institutions have played in addressing many of our nation’s most pressing social needs. The role that churches, synagogues, mosques and other private religious institutions has played in helping to ensure that Americans are adequately fed, clothed, schooled and employed has been a critical complement to government-funded programs. But no American can be made subject to religious coercion or pressure while participating in a government-funded social service program.