But the government puts out money for domestic violence shelters, it puts out money for the homeless, it puts out money for health causes. That is not how these faith-based organizations, in fact, work. If faith-based groups would like federal funds to pay for their social service programs such as fighting drug addiction, they'd better not count on a blank check from Washington. That's the message from Stephen Goldsmith, the White House adviser who's the point man on President Bush's initiative to provide federal aid to faith-based charities that was announced last week. But the government puts out money for domestic violence shelters, it puts out money for the homeless, it puts out money for health causes.
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Furthermore, Goldsmith said the president's initiative is not meant to require people seeking help to choose a religious charity over a secular one. If you are homeless and you don't want to be mixed up with a religious organization, you should have an option. Also on Face, the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, warned that religious charities receiving federal funds may pose constitutional problems, no matter how many bureaucratic firewalls are put in place. You can't just turn off religion when the spigot opens and there's a federal dollar coming out, and then go back to being religious when it's a private dollar. Yet the Rev. Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, told Face that the faith-based community should not be precluded from getting federal assistance to carry out secular programs, provided they follow the rules.