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<% IssueDate = "7/11/03" IssueCategory = "Events" %> GayToday.com - Top Story

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Bush's Faith-Based Drug Plan Poses Constitutional Problems

Administration Touts Treatment Using Religious Conversion

House Committee Passes Religious Schooling, Job Bias Plan

Compiled by GayToday
Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Washington, D.C.--The Bush administration's push for "faith-based" solutions to drug abuse raises serious constitutional problems, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

This week, Bush Drug Czar John P. Walters and other administration officials are campaigning at a series of public appearances for a religiously based response to drug abuse. Yesterday, Walters unveiled a new website and other resources aimed at religious leaders.

Americans United, which has spearheaded opposition to President George W. Bush's "faith-based" initiative, said the new project is just one component of a larger agenda.

"The Bush administration seems to think there's a 'faith-based' solution to every social and medical problem in America," said the Reverend Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "The project announced today is one very small part of a larger crusade that raises troubling constitutional concerns. The Bush Administration's 'faith-based' cure for drug abuse raises serious concerns, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Graphic By: WhiteHouse.Org

"The White House is ignoring vital constitutional safeguards," continued Lynn. "The Constitution calls for a separation between religion and government, not a merger."

Lynn said the Bush administration can't seem to distinguish between treatment programs that follow accepted medical and scientific strictures and those based on preaching and evangelism. Many religiously motivated programs follow accepted treatment procedures, but some of those touted by the White House do not. The Bush administration has called for $600 million in new federal funds for treatment options, including religiously based programs.

On July 8, Bush Drug Czar Walters appeared in Riverside, California, at a Teen Challenge facility that relies on conversion to fundamentalist Christianity as its form of treatment. The group hires only evangelical Christians to staff its work.

In testimony before Congress in 2001, a Teen Challenge official noted that some Jews who participate in the program convert to Christianity, becoming what he called "completed Jews." Many Jewish leaders found the term offensive.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Walters praised Teen Challenge, saying, "It is an honor to celebrate your miracles."

Said Americans United's Lynn:

"It is unconstitutional for the federal government to pay for programs that proselytize and discriminate in hiring. The Bush administration is way out of line on this. "

House Committee Approves D.C. Voucher Bill
Subsidizing Religious Schooling And Employment Discrimination

A federal school voucher bill that would subsidize religious education has passed a committee in Congress.

By a one-vote margin, the U.S. House's Committee on Government Reform approved a bill yesterday that would offer students in Washington, D.C., vouchers of up to $7,500 per year to pay for tuition at religious and other private schools. The committee also kept a controversial provision within the bill, which is backed by the Bush administration, allowing participating private schools to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion and gender.

The bill, called the D.C. Parental Choice Incentive Act of 2003 (H.R. 2556), includes a provision that states federal funds "made available under this Act may be used for religious educational purposes, and no participating school shall be required to remove religious art, icons, scriptures, or other symbols."

Civil liberties, education and other public interest groups had urged the committee to defeat the bill, noting that few District residents support vouchers.

"This bill undermines public education and diverts taxpayer dollars to religious schooling," said the Rev. Lynn. "The District's children need real solutions to school problems, not political grandstanding like this bill.

"The closeness of the vote in committee shows just how controversial this measure is," continued Lynn. "I am optimistic that the voucher scheme ultimately will be defeated."

Lynn said it is disappointing that the committee approved a bill that would allow publicly funded private schools to discriminate in hiring based on religion and sex.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans for the Seperation of Church & State

"The bill shows no concern for federal, state and local civil rights laws," Lynn said. "It singles out religious schools and says they don't have to play by the rules that all other publicly funded schools must follow. "

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