ASHINGTON, Jan. 29 — Flanked by an array of religious
leaders, President Bush today signed two executive orders that
throw open the doors of government to religious and community
groups as part of a broad effort to refashion the way government
delivers social services.
The moment was not merely one of those "thousand points of
light" photo opportunities favored by the former Bush
administration, in which notable do-gooders were ushered into
the White House for a presidential handshake and five minutes of
recognition.
Instead, what the current President Bush promised religious
leaders today was far more extraordinary, a new version of
"reinventing government," with a religious cast.
The move is likely to be applauded by many religious leaders
and Americans who believe that faith has long been the missing
ingredient in government programs for the homeless, drug
addicts, prisoners, the mentally ill and the unemployed.
But it will undoubtedly stir up a barbed constitutional
debate: about the government playing favorites with religions;
about tax dollars spent on programs that discriminate in hiring
and firing employees; and about how far public agencies should
go in policing religious organizations that are accused of
abuses.
Mr. Bush named Stephen Goldsmith, a former mayor of
Indianapolis, and John J. DiIulio Jr., a University of
Pennsylvania professor, to White House posts that will scour
federal agencies for every opportunity to lift regulatory
barriers that previously prevented government money and
contracts from being channeled to religious groups.
Mr. DiIulio will head the new White House Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which will serve as a
liaison to nonprofit groups and identify exemplary programs that
can serve as national models. Mr. Bush also established centers
at the Departments of Justice, Education, Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development to ensure that
they cooperate with religious and secular nonprofit
organizations.
The president is expected to announce more details of his
initiative on Tuesday at the Fishing School, a religion-based
program for youth in Washington founded by a retired police
officer. One of Mr. Bush's primary proposals is to allow all
taxpayers to deduct charitable gifts, even those who do not now
itemize deductions.
"When we see social needs in America," Mr. Bush said today,
"my administration will look first to faith- based programs and
community groups, which have proven their power to save and
change lives."
Mr. Bush's plan will meet resistance from civil libertarians,
and even from some within religious organizations.
"This is going to be an all-out battle," said Joseph Conn, a
spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and
State. "A lot of people see this as one of the biggest
violations of church-state separation that we've seen in
American history."
It will not be a battle of the faithful versus the faithless.
The administration may be surprised, critics say, when the
battle is joined by some religious groups and whole
denominations that sense danger ahead. They fear that when
government officials start poring over proposals from religious
groups, the government ultimately favors one program, and
therefore one religion, over another. Mr. DiIulio said today
that the White House would try to avoid such conflicts by using
empirical methods to determine which programs have a track
record of success.
"We will work with what is effective," Mr. DiIulio said in an
interview, and added, paraphrasing the Bible, "And ye shall know
this and us by our works."
Already, the White House's religious predilections are being
scrutinized based on who was invited, and who not, to the
meeting there today. In his comments, Mr. Bush repeatedly
mentioned the diversity of the group. He was joined by five
prominent black preachers and a Muslim imam. To his right was a
Catholic nun, to his left an Orthodox Jew. Gathered behind him
were about 20 Christian leaders and pastors, many of them
evangelicals.
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