NEWS STORY: Christian leaders say religious groups can aid welfare reform programs

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Call to Renewal, a coalition of Christian leaders ranging from mainline and evangelical Protestants to Roman Catholics, has urged U.S. governors to make use of religiously based organizations in their welfare reform efforts designed to reduce poverty. Jim Wallis, convenor of the coalition’s”Christian Roundtable on Poverty and Welfare […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Call to Renewal, a coalition of Christian leaders ranging from mainline and evangelical Protestants to Roman Catholics, has urged U.S. governors to make use of religiously based organizations in their welfare reform efforts designed to reduce poverty.

Jim Wallis, convenor of the coalition’s”Christian Roundtable on Poverty and Welfare Reform,”said Tuesday (Dec. 16) that the”charitable choice”provision of new welfare legislation has been”little noticed”and offers opportunities for partnerships.”As states continue to develop their plans for implementing welfare reform programs, we today want to say that religious non-profit ministries must have a real seat at the table,”Wallis said at a news conference featuring supporters from a variety of Christian groups.”Faith-based groups have the experience and the expertise to help formulate workable policies in states and counties and cities.” The charitable choice provision allows faith-based nonprofits to receive government money for programs to aid the needy while both expressing their beliefs and respecting those of programs users.


The religious institutions would offer a variety of forms of assistance to help people move from welfare to work, including job training, substance abuse counseling and child care.

Groups encouraging use of the provision range from the National Association of Evangelicals, a coalition of evangelical Protestant groups; to the National Council of Churches, a coalition of mainline Protestant and Orthodox denominations and historically African-American churches.

But the provision also has its critics, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and American Atheists, both of whom think it runs afoul of the Constitution’s goal of church-state separation.

Barry Lynn, Americans United executive director, said his organization will send a letter to the governors informing them of his group’s concern that the provision will result in evangelizing clients using the religiously based programs.”(The letter) would talk specifically about the care that needs to be exercised to insure that no person who is eligible to receive a benefit is in any way coerced or harassed because of their failure to adhere to … specific religious beliefs,”Lynn said.

Americans United also is in the process of hiring a lawyer to look into cases where use of the provision results in alleged religious coercion.”Lawsuits will happen,”Lynn predicted.”That’s as inevitable as the fact that somebody’s going to take advantage of this law. I see this as the biggest issue of the next 10 years. This is the equivalent of vouchers as a church-state issue for the next decade.” But coalition members said they believe the religious organizations who use the provision will focus on empowering rather than evangelizing.”We think that a private-public partnership, a creative partnership is appropriate,”said the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, associate general secretary for public policy of the National Council of Churches.”The separation of church and state is a bedrock, non-negotiable principle. … That doesn’t mean that states cannot fund programs of human need through religiously based institutions.” The religious leaders, representing the 17 signers of a letter to the governors, expressed concern that many officials do not yet know about the charitable choice provision.

Thomas J. Allio Jr., social action director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, said only 10 of about 80 county commissioners in Ohio are aware of the charitable choice provision.

Other religious leaders noted the success their groups have had with programs that had government involvement.


The Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown, executive committee member of the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation in Boston, said his organization has helped bring together churches, governmental organizations and social service agencies to address problems such as juvenile homicide and gangs.”Secular society cannot build community without faith,”he said.”Wholeness comes when the needs of the body, mind and spirit are met.” The Rev. Rich Cizik, policy analyst for the National Association of Evangelicals, said his organization’s assistance arm, World Relief, has resettled 10,000 refugees facing political and religious persecution with the help of federal funding in the last decade.

Other organizations have had similar cooperation with government agencies for decades, he said.”If a program does in fact coerce people in order to receive benefits that is wrong and we would tell them that is wrong,”Cizik said.

MJP END RNS

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