c. 2006 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

NEW ORLEANS _ As criticism of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina mounts, praise of faith-based groups continues, providing new momentum in the campaign to expand federal funding of religious social services.

Religious groups were some of the first on the scene, delivering desperately needed help in the rescue and relief operations. Many faith-based groups are still there, taking a high-profile role in rebuilding efforts, which raises the question: should they get government money for their work?

“If a faith-based group is actually doing the best job at administering a service, why not?” said Pam Pryor, vice president of We Care America, a nonprofit organization that advocates more partnerships between government and religious groups.

“Katrina definitely proved that these folks know how to do what they do, and they know how to do it quickly,” Pryor told the PBS program, “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.”

But Hollyn Hollman of the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee, advocates of strict church-state separation, urged caution.

“I think it’s very unfortunate that some people would use this tragedy to advance a policy that’s been extremely controversial,” she said. “I don’t think this (Katrina) should be an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we do church-state relations.”

President Bush has been implementing his faith-based initiative using changes in government regulations. But the administration has had less success in persuading lawmakers on Capitol Hill to turn the initiative into law.

Both proponents and critics are gearing up for new legislative battles in the weeks ahead.

“I think there’s wonderful fertile ground for pushing more of the faith-based initiative and embedding it legislatively,” Pryor said. “Right now,” she added, “it’s only by executive order. It’s my hope that we could actually codify this.”

An important step in that direction occurred in late December when Bush signed a law allowing private schools _ including religious schools _ to get federal aid as part of the government’s hurricane recovery package.

The Rev. Michael Jacques of St. Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans said such aid is needed now more than ever because virtually all of the Catholic schools in the city are operational, compared to less than 15 percent of the public schools.

“This is a real justice issue for me,” said Jacques, a long-time supporter of government aid to parochial schools. “It’s not just a matter of constitutional things.”

Said Jacques: “Should there be public education? Definitely. Should it be better than what it is? Of course. It has to be. But right now, in this city, there are very few public schools that are open. The only people providing this education have been the Catholic schools. They have opened their doors free of charge.”

While the new law only applies only to the current school year, opponents fear it could open the door to more widespread voucher programs in the future.

“We need to be careful about creating exceptions that will later be expanded and actually swallow up the rule,” said Hollman of the Baptist Joint Committee.

“With regard to education, government’s first duty is to fund the public schools, those schools that take all students wherever they are without regard to their financial resources or their religious traditions,” she said.

Another controversial question is whether the government should reimburse religious groups for the emergency work they did during Katrina.

Louisiana State Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, a Democrat, is working to make that happen.

“I think that the churches responded not because they were expecting to get reimbursed,” she said. “But in the recovery effort, in the relief effort, they were led to believe that they probably would be candidates for reimbursements.”

So far, those reimbursements have been bogged down by bureaucratic questions, such as what the government’s requirements should be for religious organizations.

“Right now, people are kind of out there just making it up on their own,” she said. “And I don’t think that’s a good way to run a government or a faith-based organization.”

Some religious groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention, say they don’t want the government money. The SBC had a massive post-Katrina operation that included providing more than 10 million meals.

Rabbi Stan Zanek of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Baton Rouge also says he would not take the money.

After Katrina, the synagogue sheltered evacuees and took in extra students at its day school. They rescued Torah scrolls from other flooded synagogues and helped reconnect separated families.

“There was no question, `wait, well, wait a minute. Are we going to get compensated for this?’ I don’t think any religious institution thought that way,” the rabbi said.

Then Hurricane Rita hit, and the synagogue was left with a half-million dollars in damages, which the insurance company refuses to cover. Still, Zanek said he would have serious concerns about taking a check from the government.

“I just would be wary of blunting our message or having our work somehow complicated,” he said. “And I just don’t know if it would be worth it.”

Others, stretched to the breaking point by their charitable efforts, would welcome new sources of income.

In Baton Rouge, the Rev. Gregory White and his Beech Grove Baptist Church fed Katrina evacuees in a nearby motel every day for three months. They had to stop when they ran out of money.

“Yeah, we’re people of faith,” he said. “We believe in God … that God will supply all our needs. But by the same token, we know that there’s some assistance that can come to us.”

White and the congregation are developing projects to help more than 600 displaced families living in FEMA trailers near the church. He says they would be willing to get government funding to carry out the project.

“Being people of faith, I would think we’re not trying to take anything that is not ours,” he said. “We are people who pay taxes everyday. So it’s already our money.”

Hollman, however, said congregations are able to do effective work precisely because the government stays separate from religion.

“Anytime the government enters into formal kinds of contractual relationships with houses of worship, red flags should go up for people who care about religious liberty,” she said. “When religion is funded by government, it tends to be controlled by government. Religious entities start answering to government’s concerns instead of matters of its own conscience and religious tradition.”

Hollman and the Baptist Joint Committee are promoting private alternatives to government funding, such as the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. In December, the fund announced it was giving $20 million to local faith-based groups.

As the debate unfolds in Washington, those on the Gulf Coast believe they’ll be Ground Zero in the argument.

“When all the news people are gone, FEMA’s gone, who’s the burden going to be on?” White asked. “The burden is going to be on the church. The folks are going to come knocking on the doors of the church. And we are going to be the ones left to do it out of faith. And many churches don’t have the resources because they have already given beyond.”

DEA/MO/JL END LAWTON

Editors: To see dozens of photos depicting the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject (Katrina) or slug. Sept. 20, 2005, photos that went with RNS-KATRINA-RESPONSE depict United Methodists collecting donated good for hurricane victims.

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