c. 2005 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ As Congress gears up for another go at expanding the Bush administration’s faith-based initiative, dozens of mostly conservative black ministers have signed on to a statement endorsing the bill’s controversial “charitable choice” provision, long a point of contention for Democrats.

Staffers from the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives circulated the letter for signatures in advance of and during a private May 23 meeting between the black ministers and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The meeting’s topic was ways the faith-based initiative could be expanded to aid Africans victimized by the spread of HIV.

But some critics say the letter, which endorses a domestic provision allowing American charities to discriminate based on a job applicant’s religious beliefs, was the real point of the meeting.

“We’re hopeful that this can lead to a resolution of an issue that’s kind of stymied Congress since the president took office,” said James Towey, assistant to the president and director of the office of faith-based initiatives.

He said the stalled bill could be up for reconsideration as early as June and the support of African-American religious leaders might sway Democrats.

“The losers are the poor when African-American pastors and their organizations are told they have to sell their souls if they’re going to provide a federally funded service,” Towey said. He was referring to current law, which forbids religious charities from receiving federal funding if they engage in discrimination.

Religious organizations arguing for an exception say that to retain their religious identities, they need to be able to hire and fire based on spiritual beliefs. For example, a Catholic organization receiving federal funding should be able to hire only Catholics and Muslim organizations should be able to receive funding while requiring employees to hold to an Islamic code of beliefs, these organizations say.

The State Department meeting with Rice coincided with a Democratic-led Congressional Black Caucus event with 200 religious leaders from across the country. It illustrated the Bush administration’s increasing efforts to reach out to a constituency, black pastors, that Republicans have traditionally neglected. In the 2004 election, increased African-American support was key to Bush winning a close race in Ohio, which swung the election his way.

Circulation of the letter at the Rice meeting helped the administration gather more signatures and drum up more support among black pastors.

But the Rev. Timothy McDonald, chair of the Washington-based African American Ministers in Action and minister at First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta, said the administration had been dishonest about the real reason for the meeting with Rice, and the fine print of the letter.

“What angers me is the whole way they called the meeting talking about Africa and HIV and then they just sprung the letter on them,” McDonald said. “The way it’s being promoted is that you’ll be able to get more money for your church to help with their programs, but they’re not being told that they’re signing something that condones discrimination.”

McDonald said the letter had not been released to the public because many of the ministers had not known what they had signed.

“That’s why they’re keeping it so private, because they know once it goes public they won’t be able to use them,” he asserted. A similar thing happened, he said, when the Bush administration sought black support for government vouchers that could pay for religious education.

Towey said the letter had been circulating for about six weeks and had collected signatures from more than 30 prominent African-American pastors. He said his office would probably release the statement later this month because staff members were still trying to get more signatures.

One of those who attended the meeting with Rice and signed the letter was the Rev. O’Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, Fla. He said his conviction that black churches need more money had driven him both to attend the meeting with Rice and to sign the statement, which he did in advance of the meeting.

“In the heart of a black community like the one where I pastor, you don’t have a whole lot of rich people sitting in your church,” said Dozier. “You need the faith-based initiative program to be active in the black community and the Spanish community and the minority community, you really do.”

But many civil rights groups and minority pastors have voiced concern about “charitable choice,” saying it poses a threat to civil rights and violates the division of church and state. Critics include American Baptist Churches USA, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, the NAACP, Interfaith Alliance and African American Ministers in Action.

Dozier said many prominent pastors had signed the letter, including Bishops T.D. Jakes of Dallas and Charles E. Blake of Los Angeles. Towey would not confirm any signatures and Blake and Jakes could not be reached for comment.

McDonald said African American Ministers in Action conducted a conference call Wednesday to discuss the letter.

“I would suspect that probably most who signed got some faith-based money,” McDonald said. “I think as we educate them … we’re hoping that some of those who have initially signed on will say, `I don’t want my name associated with that.”’

MO/PH END RNS

Editors: Search the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for file photos of Towey and Jakes.