wfn.org | Commentary: Government-funded initiatives must keep faith

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 21, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{241}
 
NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of the Rev. Dorothy Watson Tatem is
available.
 
A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Dorothy Watson Tatem*
 
"Charitable choice" and "faith-based funding" are becoming widely discussed
terms, from local churches to the halls of Congress. The merits of making
government funds available to faith-based organizations are being widely
debated.

The concept is hardly novel. For years, faith-based organizations such as
the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities have received substantial
government funding. The money has been used strictly for services to
communities and not for religious purposes. All of these organizations have
had to comply with government standards to receive continued support. Social
services rendered have been evaluated and all funds accounted for.
Government funds have not been co-mingled with those of the religious
organizations. 

Government support for faith-based initiatives can have a positive impact on
local communities. It is important, however, that the initiatives themselves
not lose their faith -- or the strength of their witness -- in the process
of accepting government funds.

Processes for funding religious organizations have been in place for some
time. Legislation for charitable choice, which has been passed four times
with bipartisan support, permits all 353,000 congregations in the United
States "to compete for government social services funding regardless of
their religious nature." 

No new funding dollars exist, but faith-based organizations can attempt to
appropriate funds from the same source as social agencies. John DiIulio, the
executive director of President Bush's faith-based funding initiative, notes
that 40 percent of government service dollars goes to nonprofit
organizations. Each religious organization makes the decision to seek
government funding based on its mission and willingness to comply with
regulations.
 
The criticisms abound. To name a few: The volume of paperwork involved is
too great for small faith-based groups to handle; large organizations with
experience will be favored over smaller ones when funds are awarded; the
jobs created will depend on the perpetuation of poverty; religious groups
will be endorsed with public funds; and the faith that undergirds religious
communities will be undermined. This is not an exhaustive listing.
 
On the positive side, money is being made available to help faith-based
groups expand what they have been doing all along. 

It is imperative that government funds not be co-mingled with those of
religious entities. A religious organization can avoid trouble on this point
by establishing the faith-based initiative as a 501(c)(3) corporation - that
is, a private, nonprofit corporation separate from but related to the
religious entity. Faith-based initiatives that do not take that step must
set up a financial reckoning process that includes bank accounts distinctly
separate from those of the religious organization. 

Cookman United Methodist Church, led by the Rev. Donna Jones, is the only
local congregation of any faith in Philadelphia that has received more than
$100,000 in charitable-choice funding. To strengthen the church's direct
involvement in the Welfare to Work program, the congregation and pastor
decided not to create a separate corporate entity. Instead, a separate
financial system supervised by someone outside the church ensures that funds
are not co-mingled.
 
Critical to the debate about charitable choice is the question of whether
religious organizations will lose their faith in God as they aggressively
compete for government dollars. Most such groups share a commitment to
nourish the whole being of a person individually and corporately. This
requires looking beyond what seems immediately possible or even rationally
sound. These organizations intrinsically strive for a more spiritual,
creative and life-giving existence. 

When religious organizations scramble for the same funds as other social
services providers, will they neglect teaching and holding their members
accountable for sound stewardship practices? Will religious organizations
become spastic should such funding cease, or will they remember that in
their histories they had "to make bricks without straw?" The striving to do
that is at the core of our faith. 

The government should be seen as one volunteer among the many committed to
work with communities to improve local conditions. Faith ceases when
government is perceived as the primary or critical resource for the
organization that is providing services. To become rich in straw is to lose
the very exercise of the spiritual muscle that makes the faith-based
organization more than just a social service agency. 

Faith-based groups offer hope and inspiration beyond the tangible.
Charitable choice expands the opportunities for faith-based organizations to
serve. This is a viable partnership as long as religious organizations keep
the faith!
# # #
*Tatem is director of urban ministries for the United Methodist Church's
Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org