Senate may delay faith-based bill

Christian Century, August 1, 2001

President Bush's faith-based initiative could be stalled in the Senate until next year unless problems with anti-discrimination provisions are worked out, Senate Democrats say. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said it is unlikely the Senate will consider this year the plan to share federal money with religious charities.

The House passed its version of the bill 233-198 on July 19 after strong lobbying from the White House. But three days later on NBC's Meet the Press, Daschle said he has concerns about provisions in the bill that allow religious groups to skirt local and state antibias laws.

Daschle said the bill, as written, is an "open invitation" to allow discrimination and would not say when the bill would come up in the Democrat-controlled Senate. "I don't want to be tied to a specific time frame, but I clearly will give the president his opportunity, his day in court, and we'll have that debate," Daschle said on the show.

Meanwhile, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D., Conn.) told news organizations that he will try to rewrite the bill in order to gain Senate passage. "I've always believed that religion is a source of unity in America, not division," said Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew. "Right now, this bill is framed in a way that seems to have divided us, certainly along party lines. That's not necessary."

In arguing for the House version, the bill's sponsor, J. C. Watts Jr. (R., Okla.), said: "This bill is not about church. It's not about state. Rather, it's about serving the poor and needy. It is a plan to help the least of our brethren."

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee in Washington, D.C., decried the passage of the House bill, calling the Community Solutions Act a blow to religious liberty. "We recognize religion's vital role in addressing social ills," Walker said. "But we believe religion will be hurt, not helped, by redirecting billions of dollars to pervasively religious ministries of the government's choosing."

The United Church of Christ, which like many mainline denominations has been involved in government-funded social services through existing laws, announced during its June national convention that it has published a guidebook on "charitable choice" programs for local churches. UCC President John Thomas said the denomination has the expertise and is ready to work with the Bush administration if legal problems can be resolved.

Nevertheless, Thomas and other UCC officials at a news conference in Kansas City, Missouri, raised the same worries about hiring discrimination and proselytization expressed repeatedly by UCC minister Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"The only difference [between what Lynn and UCC officials are saying] is tone--we are being more positive," said Pat Conover, legislative analyst for the UCC's Washington office. "We affirm there are some strong opportunities for government work with churches--it's all about terms of the contract and details," he said. --RNS and CENTURY sources