| WASHINGTON
- April 10 - A
majority of Americans have deep reservations about President
George W. Bush's "faith-based" initiative, a new
opinion poll shows.
According
to a survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion and
Public Life, 68 percent of Americans worry that faith-based
programs might lead to too much government involvement with
religion, while six out of ten are concerned that publicly
funded religious groups would proselytize recipients of
social services.
The
majority of respondents support government funding for
faith-based organizations in general, but an overwhelming 78
percent of Americans say government-funded religious groups
should not be able to hire only people who share their
beliefs to staff their programs, a key component of the Bush
plan.
Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, which has
spearheaded opposition to the Bush plan, said the survey
clearly shows that the American people reject the White
House proposal.
"Americans
don't mind religious social services getting some government
aid, as long as there are strict safeguards in place,"
said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive
director. "President Bush wants to do away with the
safeguards, and people have no intention of saying amen.
"The
Bush plan allows religious discrimination with public funds;
Americans overwhelmingly say no," Lynn continued.
"The Bush plan allows providers to proselytize needy
people; Americans say no. Clearly, people don't have much
faith in the Bush approach."
Religiously
affiliated groups such as Catholic Charities and Lutheran
Social Services have received government funding for years,
said Lynn, but those agencies do not discriminate in hiring
or proselytize aid recipients. Under the Bush proposal,
government aid would go directly to churches, and they would
be allow to engage in preferential hiring and evangelize
needy people while providing the tax-funded program.
In
addition to the findings mentioned above, the poll also
found that many Americans do not want government to fund
religious minorities. Only 38 percent thought Muslim mosques
should get aid, while the same number supported help for
Buddhist temples. A bare majority -- 51 percent -- supported
government aid for Mormon churches.
Said
AU's Lynn, "The Bush proposal is stirring up
unnecessary religious tensions. The Constitution mandates
that government treat all religions equally. If majority
faiths qualify for aid, minorities must be eligible as well.
Yet people are worried that religious groups they don't like
or don't understand will get their tax dollars. This scheme
has disaster written all over it."
Americans
United is a Washington, D.C.-based church-state watchdog
group. The organization has some 60,000 members as well as
allied houses of worship in all 50 states.
###
|
