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without Violating The Constitution |
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Compiled by GayToday American United for Separation of Church & State
The report, Finding Common Ground, gives 29 recommendations for meeting human needs. The 54-page document is the result of a months-long discussion by more than 30 representatives of groups that have been involved in the debate over funding "faith-based" social services. "I am pleased at the number of actions we agreed can be taken in this area without raising constitutional issues," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "I hope this is the direction Congress and the president take to move beyond the divisiveness of the debate in the House last summer." (In July, a deeply divided House approved H.R. 7, a package of measures designed to subsidize "faith-based" social services. The bill was controversial because it granted government support to religion, allowed publicly funded employment discrimination and paved the way for voucherization of social services.) Lynn, an attorney and United Church of Christ minister, was an active participant in the Working Group on Human Needs and Faith-Based Community Initiatives, the organization that sponsored the effort to find common ground. The Working Group's members ranged from representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Jewish Committee and People for the American Way to the Southern Baptist Convention, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Evangelicals for Social Action.
In addition to recommendations for action, the report also includes analysis and clarification of some of the issues surrounding the "faith-based initiative." |
Washington, D.C.--Americans United for Separation of Church and State
announced yesterday that it supports a consensus report designed to outline
appropriate ways to provide assistance to those in need through faith-based
and other community organizations.
