by Scott Darnell
Daily Lobo Columnist
Watchdog groups in America find fights to fight solely for the purpose of gaining wealth or notoriety; they often blow issues out of proportion and lose sight of their well-intended purposes due to their hysteric over-sensationalism of actions or events.
These watchdog groups, many of which are in charge of protecting basic rights, are becoming aides and accomplices to evil-doers in America and elsewhere, as their mission statements are being guided not by sound, moral sense, but by asinine interpretations of the laws and statutes that govern us all.
These groups are fighting President Bush's faith-based programs, trying to keep charity and good will out of this country, and mark my words, after studying the specifics of Bush's faith-based initiatives -- they will lose their fight, as there exists no law that they can over-interpret enough to claim that his funding of faith-based programs injures, discriminates, or infringes on the rights of any individual in this nation.
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For years, faith-based and community groups have been working to feed the 13.6 million children under the age of 12 who go hungry in this country, they've been working to provide aid for the more than 5 million seniors who are below or near the poverty level, they've been working to provide a helping hand for the 16.6 million Americans who have substance abuse problems and they've been laboring to assist the 2 million children who have parents in prison, among other causes, such as helping the homeless, attending to at-risk youth, and giving aid to families moving from welfare to work.
Unfortunately, the federal government has not often been too close a partner with these charity groups, creating bureaucratic red tape that makes it tough for these organizations to compete with larger charities that have no religious affiliation. Faith-based charities deserve the same federal funding opportunities that other charity organizations are afforded, and President Bush's mission statement reflects that sentiment, and his guidelines, which are delineated at the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives adequately prove that this can be accomplished without infringing on the separation of church and state.
President Bush says, "Governments shouldn't discriminate against faith, governments should welcome faith; the power of faith, whether it comes through the Christian church, through Judaism, or through Islam, can change people's lives for the better. And we must welcome that faith in our society."
To fund faith-based programs, our government doesn't ask, "Does your organization believe in God?" It simply asks questions like, "Does the program work? Can it turn people's lives around? Is it accountable for the money it receives?"
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives expressly says that faith-based charities "can't use any part of a direct federal grant to fund religious worship or instruction," or for any other activities that are "inherently religious." The office also prohibits federal funds from being used to purchase religious materials, and it doesn't allow organizations that receive faith-based federal funding to, as in any other federally funded charity, discriminate against a certain individual/group, and must lend its services to anyone who fits the criteria for those able to receive the charity's specific service.
Our logic up to this point has been entirely backward; a church, for example, should have the freedom to exercise its good will on society, and act as any other charity would until it violates a specific rule, such as possibly using federal funding to buy Bibles for homeless people. At that point, the church re-pays its grant and isn't allowed federal funding for a period of time.
Watchdog groups, and especially the ACLU, are condemning churches, synagogues and other places of worship before they have the chance to be an avenue for good will, taking food out of the mouths of hungry children based on a fear that all religious institutions will assuredly push their agendas on others.
Religious institutions carry out acts of charity each and every day and provide aid to the millions of Americans that so desperately need it; our government must be a partner to those charities as it is to any other. No group should be able to dictate who has the right to aid the disadvantaged in society -- how dare we discriminate and slap in the face those who make such a sacrifice for others!
Please send comments or concerns to scottusa@unm.edu -- hate mail always welcome.
