First up from The God Machine this week is a disconcerting story about religious congressional pork-barrel spending. It’s been a fairly big issue for a while, but as desperate lawmakers hope to curry favor with religious groups, the amount of taxpayer dollars that are ending up in collection plates keeps getting bigger.
The NYT reported back in May that from 1989 to January 2007, Congress approved almost 900 earmarks for religious groups, totaling more than $318 million. In recent years, that number has grown considerably — more than half the 900 earmarks were granted shortly before the 2004 election, as compared to just 60 earmarks in 1997 and 1998 combined. It’s reached the point in which faith-based groups have hired lobbyists so they can get a bigger slice of the budget pie.
Roll Call reported this week, however, that the trend is not only to give more money to more religious groups, but also to start rewarding ministries that evangelize. As a result, some of the groups getting public funding to perform a social service “require participants to convert [to Christianity] in order to fully benefit from their programs.”
Dena Sher, state legislative counsel for Americans United, argued that while many faith-based organizations are structured in such a way as to avoid having federal funds subsidize religious activities, groups whose central focus is religious in nature have had an increasing number of earmarks steered their way.
“The trend of earmarking federal funding for faith-based organizations is a real problem,” Sher said. “Under the Constitution, government funding cannot be used to endorse religion; it cannot be used for religious activities; and it cannot be used to construct buildings for religious purposes.
“Earmarked projects are especially vulnerable to abuse because the earmarked organizations don’t go through the normal application process and thus aren’t subject to any real oversight.”
Steve Ellis, vice president for programs at Taxpayers for Common Sense, agreed, saying Congress enters into dangerous territory when it begins designating specific religious groups to receive funding. “Earmarks are about picking winners and losers, and it gets more touchy when religion comes into it. That starts raising red flags,” Ellis said, adding that lawmakers are “marrying two concerning elements into one dream team that raises the bar and the scrutiny that these deserve.”
In one of the more striking examples, World Impact, describes itself as “a Christian missions organization dedicated to ministering God’s love in the inner cities of America….World Impact ministers cross-culturally to people unreached by the gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism…[and] training leadership for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.” Thanks to its high-powered lobbyists, World Impact has secured $1.9 million in taxpayer grants from Congress recently.
Other items from the God Machine this week:
* The president may be known for his devout religious beliefs, but he’s apparently decided to stop going to church. Reporters note that Bush used to go regularly, but hasn’t attended services in months: “9/23 pool report: The president of America eschewed church on this fine Sunday and instead went for a bike ride in Virginia….9/30 pool report: The evangelical president did not go to church today, but he did go on a bike ride….10/7 pool report: (Bush gave a speech at the National Fire Academy) 10/14 pool report: (Bush was on his Crawford ranch) 10/21 pool report: Pool reported this morning and headed straight for biking, no church….10/28 pool report: No church, and uneventful bike ride at Fort Belvoir, Va.”
* In an unexpected theological twist, CNN reported this week that some Christian congregations, particularly in lower income, urban areas, are turning to the Church of Scientology for some help: “Two pastors who spoke recently with CNN explained that when it comes to religion, they still preach the core beliefs of Christianity. But when it comes to practicing what they preach in a modern world, borrowing from Scientology helps. The Rev. Charles Kennedy, of the Glorious Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal church in Tampa, Florida, and the Rev. James McLaughlin, of the Wayman Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, are among the theological hybrids.” Apparently, the congregations are specifically relying on Scientological approaches to drug addiction.
* And finally, Marshall University in West Virginia will now “formally protect pagan students from being penalized for missing work that falls on religious holidays,” apparently a first for American higher-ed. ABC News reported, “The decision to allow pagan students to make up missed work from classes on holidays was simply an extension of existing university policy toward members of other religious groups, said Steve Hensley, Marshall’s dean of student affairs. ‘I don’t think there are a lot of students here who have those beliefs, but we want to respect them,’ he said. ‘It was really just a matter of looking into it, and deciding what was the right thing.'” No word from the religious right yet on this, but one has to assume the Dobson crowd is seriously displeased.