Under the faith-based initiative, they may be relegated to religious centers that impose theological doctrines on health care, refusing to dispense contraceptives or to inform clients of the option of abortion. Apart from its political motivations, the faith-based initiative collides with fundamental principles of religious liberty. First, tax-supported religion offends individual conscience. The life-transforming power of faith works only when people voluntarily embrace it. When impoverished people participate in prayers only because they are desperate for the public assistance that comes with it, their religious freedom is violated.
Prayer is a delicate, private matter.
Paying someone tax funds to walk into a church is clearly inconsistent with the core concept of the First Amendment. Second, turning religious institutions into government contractors will make them docile helping hands of the state. Historically, the financial independence of churches from the state has allowed them serve as powerful moral critics of the government. Religious leaders have led some of this country's most important social justice movements, including the civil rights struggle and the antiwar protests. Third, the competition for tax dollars will spark a bitter religious conflict among this country's 353,000 religious congregations.