Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Editorial: Keep the faith on religious freedom
Candidate Obama should clarify where he draws the church-state line for federal funding.
From the RoundTable blog
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Barack Obama wants to expand on President Bush's faith-based social services initiative by adding dollars and pushing more of them farther down the money chain to grassroots religious and secular charities that help the needy in their communities.
They certainly could put more money for social services to good use.
And in a speech Tuesday about his vision for a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the Democratic candidate for president offered needed assurances of his deep belief in an inviolable principle of fair, representative governance: the separation of church and state.
Still, an early report on the speech by The Associated Press had an unnamed senior adviser to the campaign explaining that Obama supports letting religious organizations that get federal funding consider religion in employment decisions -- but only in those parts of their activities that are not funded by taxpayers.
What exactly does that mean?
That a faith-based charity won't endanger its funding if the sponsoring congregation considers matters of faith in hiring or firing its pastor/priest/rabbi/imam? That would be only reasonable.
But what if, say, a congregation's beliefs allow -- even require -- discrimination against gay people, and the work of its staff within the church/synagogue/mosque includes work related to its federally funded social ministry? Would that be OK?
In our view, it would not.
Talk of trying to give tax-funded, religion-based charities greater leeway to hire and fire based on faith invites endless scenarios in which public money might be put toward furthering religious beliefs that a good portion of the public finds intolerable.
Obama is making a bold and often well-received effort to win over evangelical Christians, who have voted heavily Republican in past elections. He is seeking common ground with people of faith who want to pursue peace and social justice and, literally, to save the world from ecological disaster.
Obama's talk, too, of healing bitter partisan divisions is commendable.
He must be clear, though, that nothing he promises would lower that divide that separates church and state, and frees every American to be true to his or her beliefs.
