Senator Seeks to Aid Faith-Based Groups

The Senate has been asked to consider legislation to expand the role of so-called faith-based charities in providing services to the poor.

Sen. John Ashcroft, Republican of Missouri, has introduced the “Charitable Choice Expansion Act of 1998,” which seeks to expand a proposal he successfully placed in the bill that overhauled the welfare system in 1996. The new legislation states explicitly that any time federal funds are used to pay for contracts with non-profit groups to provide social services, faith-based programs cannot be excluded.

In introducing the legislation, Senator Ashcroft singled out housing, drug- and alcohol-treatment programs, and programs for juvenile offenders as areas that could benefit from the approach used by religious groups.

“For years, America’s charities and churches have been transforming shattered lives by addressing the deeper needs of people — by instilling hope and values, which help change behaviors and attitudes,” Senator Ashcroft said. “By contrast, government social programs have too often failed miserably in moving recipients from dependency and despair to responsibility and independence.”

Critics say that the bill is an unseemly melding of politics and religion. “Senator Ashcroft wants to run a bulldozer thorough the wall of separation between church and state, and a lot of people will get hurt in the process,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Full text of the bill, S 2046, is available at http://www.thomas.loc.gov.