In a transparent grab for taxpayer money, The Christian Coalition, headed by Ralph Reed, has made a bid for federal funds to finance its religious-sex-education programs (and other such doctrines) to be taught at public expense. Reed has unveiled a simultaneous first step in his strategy, that of tearing down time-honored walls of separation between church and state education. Thus, Reed's brand of religious sex education, namely, abstinence, would be taught to poor inner-city children and paid for by citizens who don't share Reed's conservative Christian beliefs.

Admitting that his own Christian Coalition "movement"--and by implication his boss' constituency (the Rev. Pat Robertson's followers)-- has "for too long" been "predominantly and frankly almost exclusively a white evangelical, Republican movement with a political center of gravity centered in the safety of the suburbs" Reed's religious "pic-pocket" scheme, a "poverty program gimmick " would fleece all citizens--believers and skeptics alike-- if he gets the $150 million he's asking from the federal government. He wants taxes for voucher systems transfering inner city children in public schools-- to such as private church schools. He would also use this money to legally press couples with young children to undergo waiting periods before divorces are granted. Reed's request to the government emphasizes what he believes is the "need" for religious instruction in drug rehabilitation programs. The Christian Coalition also seeks a $500 annual tax credit for the volunteers who serve 10 hours a year devoted to such projects. This credit could cost the U.S. Government as much as $2.5 billion, Reed estimated.

Flanked by Hispanic and African American ministers, clerics also hoping to dig deep into government coffers, Reed put the best possible face on what observant others denounced as a "scam" to funnel U.S. taxes to religious institutions. Reed hopes, he says, that his "Samaritan Project" will bring spiritual and financial aid to America's inner cities.

Barry Lynn, executive director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State responded: "It is hard to take seriously any claim that Mr. Reed wants to help all the poor when, as recently as three years ago, he criticized Federal health-care programs which included drug treatment and mental health coverage, asserting that 'church-going families are less prone to use these programs, services they don't need or want." Lynn referred to Reed's federal-funds bid as "a cheap veneer over the same creaky agenda of intolerance, moral paternalism, and government aid to religion that the Coalition failed to pass during the last Congress."

One conservative strategist, Bill Pesco, expressed puzzlement over the Christian Coalition's new project-plan. "Historically, conservative attempts to reach voter segments outside their base with programs like this end in failure," said Pesco.