Keeping the Faith, Ignoring the History

In this NYT op-ed article published on Feb. 28th Susan Jacoby addresses the issue of giving government aid to religious organizations. She goes back to the issue of violating the First Amendment, saying that funding for faith-based initiatives is too complicated and that the federal government should not provide help to these groups in any way. She is criticizing Obama for his support of faith-based initiatives (especially towards the end of the article). She starts with Bill Clinton and points out that “he signed a welfare reform bill that included a “charitable choice” provision allowing religious groups to compete for grants.” Of course, she then continues to George W. Bush and talks about how he used executive orders for money for his faith-based programs, especially from the Christian right. She finds the Christian left at fault too for encouraging funding for religious groups instead of opposing it. She doesn’t think Obama is doing any better. What Jacoby has a hard time believing is that religious groups are capable of being involved in any time of activity without proselytizing. Another good point that she makes is that the people who are being serviced by religious groups are usually in need of a lot more than a meal or material possessions; they need moral support, hope, something to believe in. They are very vulnerable people, and they will be more likely to want to believe in something that they wouldn’t necessarily consider otherwise. They could also just be pretending to believe to get a place to sleep, for example. Whatever the case is, Jacoby doesn’t think it’s good. She also thinks it is risky to have programs funded by the government, since the government can also stop this funding at any point. Although I agree with Jacoby on many levels, as a former participant in religious service trips I think religious groups are so involved in community service in the US, and that their service has a positive effect, that their service is in fact needed, if not necessary. However, I think that within the next couple of decades, as more atheists come out of their shells and secularization is encouraged this dependence will decrease and then it will all go back to the First Amendment, and to the question of why the government has been funding these groups in the first place.