Faith-based questions

Christian Century, Feb 28, 2001

AS THE White House's new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives opened its doors the day after Presidents' Day, fanfare that greeted the concept is being replaced with unanswered questions--posed by the National Council of Churches and others.

President Bush unveiled his plans in one of his first presidential executive orders. He said the office was designed to give religious groups an equal chance at federal funding for programs that will help those in need. The office builds on the "charitable choice" provision of 1996 welfare reform legislation that was crafted by new Attorney General John Ashcroft when he was serving as a Republican senator from Missouri.

Numerous church-state separationists already have raised potential constitutional problems that such proposals prompt. But before the expected legal wrangling can begin, others are wondering about the basic matters of time, energy and equity for already-busy religious organizations.

The National Council of Churches looked at the faith-based initiative proposals by reviewing the research on and recent experiences from the welfare reform and charitable-choice programs. The National Council took up the issue in three steps:

* The ecumenical organization published on February 14 its 2001 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, which features a succinct review-essay of charitable-choice research by editor Eileen W. Lindner. NCC executive Robert Edgar, an ex-congressman, was mailing essay copies to all members of Congress.

In an interview, Lindner said that one phenomenon that usually goes unmentioned whenever officials talk about congregations getting federal money for social service work is this: "Congregations of the biggest size and resources tend overwhelmingly to be located in communities with fewer needs." A church in well-to-do Scarsdale, New York, has plenty of space and staff, but few inhabitants in that city need entry-level job training, she said, whereas "a storefront Pentecostal church in New York City has a lot of needy people in the neighborhood but not the material things such as classrooms, furnishings, bathrooms, parking and other resources."

* The NCC released on February 15 its canvass of related religious agencies in 34 states that rated programs begun under the 1996 welfare reform law--officially the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and related programs. Opinions tilted slightly to the negative--43 percent said the programs worked "fairly well" and another 43 percent said "not very well." Nearly 10 percent said "very badly."

Literacy and job-training programs got the highest marks, but "nearly everyone commented that the time limits are too short," such as only two years straight of assistance to an individual recipient. "There was strong agreement that many states have unrealistic expectations of people's ability to work," the report said, citing those on TANF who need more education, training and medical care.

* NCC leaders were planning to discuss the faith-based and community initiative, and possible ways it might be shaped on Capitol Hill, at its executive board meeting February 26-27. It is expected that the NCC will take a stance eventually, said Carol Fouke, NCC spokeswoman.

Other analysts also ask: Do congregations have time to carry out such proposals? Experts say they think about the piles of paperwork that will inevitably follow government checks. They also wonder about how monitoring and accounting will take place and whether fraudulent practices may result.

Though the Bush proposal cites plans for "increased technical assistance," Mark Chaves, a sociology professor at the University of Arizona, said "lots and lots of it" is necessary for congregations to be able to tackle grant writing and accounting responsibilities.

Still, Stanley Carlson-Thies, director of social policy studies at the Center for Public Justice, a Maryland-based organization helping the Bush administration with its planning for the new office, predicts that groups that traditionally have not received federal funding may get some now.

The White House has yet to give any financial details, but it seems to be open to a diverse range of religious organizations applying for federal assistance. When nontraditional groups such as the Nation of Islam and the Church of Scientology knock on the federal door, observers say it will be interesting to see if the embrace of diversity holds.

Will some longstanding Catholic and mainline Protestant groups--whose work has been shored up by federal funding--now get a smaller piece of the federal pie? "I think that also really remains to be seen," said Joanne Negstad, president and CEO of Lutheran Services in America, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. "I prefer to use the phrase `opportunity for collaboration' rather than competition."

--RNS and CENTURY sources