What Is Really New About The President`s Faith-Based Proposals

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What Is Really New About The President`s Faith-Based Proposals? © 2000
By Dwight A. Moody, Dean of the Chapel
Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY

President Bush made good on his campaign promise and created a White House Office for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He wants more federal dollars to flow to those religious groups that supply community services.

In Kentucky, those federal dollars will come hard on the heels of state money already pouring into the treasuries of churches, hospitals, colleges, and various religiously-affiliated organizations.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky gives money to the children`s homes, such as those run by Baptists and Methodists. This is a per diem amount intended to support children referred to these organizations by state and local courts.

In Northern Kentucky, the Commonwealth has a contract with the Catholic Diocese to provide drug and alcohol counseling in the area high schools. The Kentucky Excellence in Education Scholarships (known as the KEES program) allows every high school student to receive up to $2500 per year in college financial aid payable to any institution in the state, public or private. This is essentially a voucher program.

In all of the programs above (and many others), the money goes directly to the religious institution, not to the individual. Last summer, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision allowing states to provide bus transportation to children going to religious schools, such as Lexington Christian Academy and Owensboro Catholic High School.

Then there is Medicaid and Medicare, which funnels millions of dollars in government money to hospitals affiliated with religious groups. Our list can include federal student aid money that comes directly to private colleges and universities to support students. These are all modeled upon the very successful G. I. Bill that educated an entire post-war population.

All of this helps us understand two things. First, the proposals of President Bush are not so radical. He wants to accelerate a trend that has been emerging for thirty years; and he wants to make it public and explicit.

Second, the famous "wall of separation" between church and state is, in fact, more like a split rail fence. It marks the boundary between two centers of cultural influence; but it is hardly sturdy enough to prevent an exchange of resources and influence. It was Thomas Jefferson who introduced into our political rhetoric the phrase, "a wall of separation."

These words express our national conviction that the government should not control the church, nor should the church control the government. "A free church in a free state" has been our policy.

I support this fundamental element of our national history and identity. I am alarmed at both the religious rhetoric that belittles this principle and the government programs that blur the distinction between church and state.

But religion also has helped build and maintain a wall of civility and morality, protecting American society from anarchy, cynicism, and outright wickedness. Thank God religious faith is alive and well in Washington and Frankfort, Kentucky.

The Bible has two wonderful wall stories. Joshua led the people of Israel to march seven times around Jericho and those walls came tumbling down; it was a prelude to the conquest of the Promised Land. A thousand years later, Nehemiah equipped the people with tools and weapons as they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem; it was the end of the Exile.

There is a time to tear down and a time to build up.

We must tear down barriers that protect public officials from the religious ideals of justice, peace, and freedom; and we must remove as well those counter-productive policies insulating elected people from the power of religious practices like prayer, confession, and forgiveness.
But on the other side, we must build strong and wide the legal wall that keeps tax money from ending up in the treasuries of synagogues, churches, or mosques. Religious organizations and agencies must resist the temptation to seek government money to fund the work that God has called them to do.

It is not always easy to know when to tear down and when to build up.