Monday, January 03, 2005
U.S. gave more than $1 billion to faith-based groups in 2003
The government gave more than $1 billion in 2003 to organizations it considers "faith-based," with some going to programs where prayer and spiritual guidance are central and some to organizations that do not consider themselves religious at all.
Many of these groups have entirely secular missions and some organizations were surprised to find their names on a list of faith-based groups provided to The Associated Press by the White House.
"Someone has obviously designated us a faith-based organization, but we don't recognize ourselves as that," said Stacey Denaux, executive director of Crisis Ministries, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in Charleston, S.C.
Other grant recipients are religious, offering social service programs that the government may have deemed too religious to receive money before President Bush took office.
All told, faith-based organizations were awarded $1.17 billion in 2003. That is about 12 percent of the $14.5 billion spent on social programs that qualify for faith-based grants in five federal departments. White House officials expect the total to grow.
The list of 2003 grant recipients provided to AP is the first detailed tally of the dollars behind this "faith-based initiative."
Elected with strong support of religious conservatives, Bush came to office promising to open government's checkbook to religious groups that provide social services.
Civil libertarians fear the government will wind up paying for worship, eroding the constitutional separation between church and state.
Jim Towey, who directs the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said the Bush administration has been clear that "government money is not to fund religious activities."
"This is a culture change in the way government provides social services," he said. "There's always going to be a very delicate balance."
In the past, government has refrained from giving money directly to religious groups, but has required that they set up independent, secular organizations to get taxpayer dollars. Bush tried to get Congress to change that. Congress refused, so he unilaterally put many of his changes into effect.
To entice religious groups to apply for grants, the White House hosted several conferences explaining the relaxed rules and put out a book listing programs they might want to apply for.
It is unclear how much religion is too much religion when government money is involved. The courts have issued mixed rulings. The administration says a group getting federal money can sponsor worship and other religious activities as long as they are separated by time and location from activities paid by the government.
An AP analysis of the $1.17 billion and nearly 150 interviews in 30 states with grant recipients found:
- Many are well-established, large social service providers that have received federal money for decades. More than 80 percent of recipients at HHS had received federal money before. At HUD, the figure was 93 percent.
- Two programs account for half of the $1.17 billion total: A HUD program known as Section 202 that builds housing for low-income poor people, and Head Start, a large preschool program for poor children. Both of them are dominated by longtime grant recipients that able to handle large amounts of money — not the small church groups sometimes evoked by the White House.
- Many organizations insist they do not belong on a list of "faith-based organizations," even though they may have religious roots.
State-by-state lists of grant recipients available at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/wdc/faithbased/index.html
Permalink
