Personal Essay
Since the beginning of the United States of America, the separation of
church and state has been an important issue. The Pilgrims left
England so that they could practice their faith freely as did many
other groups of people that came to America. Thomas Jefferson
felt that the separation of church and state was vital to the success
of America at the time of its founding and for America to endure for
generations. After being elected in 2000, President George W.
Bush made funding faith-based organizations one of his main
goals. This part of Bush's agenda is one of his most
controversial and both sides are up in arms about whether religious
organizations should be given federal and state money to spend on
charitable causes.
While
faith-based organizations do a great deal of charitable work, they
should not be allowed to use federal and state money in order to run
their organizations. Faith-based organizations in recent times
have stepped in to assist those in need during the aftermath of
hurricane Katrina. While these organizations did a great deal in
a time of need, there should have been no need for them to be counted
upon. Due to the lack of action by F.E.M.A., the faith-based
organizations as well as corporations, such as Walmart, and private
citizens were greatly needed to care for those affected by hurricane
Katrina. President Bush wants faith-based organizations to be the
main form of aid in times of need for American citizens.
Many
people have criticized President Bush's determination to give tax
dollars to religious organizations and for good reason. These
religious organizations want to recieve tax dollars from the state and
federal governments, but also feel that they should be free from
government regulation. Bush's plan is for these faith-based
organizations to recieve tax dollars to fund charitable causes, but
still be able to hire and fire people based on their religious
beliefs. While these organizations are currently free to hire and
fire people based on their religious beliefs, many people feel that if
they recieve federal and state money, they should follow the same
regulations and guidelines as any other government funded organization.
In
2004 faith-based organizations recieved $2 billion in federal funding
while these same organizations only recieved $1.17 billion the previous
year. This drastic increase in funding shows Bush's support for
these controversial organizations. Bush has even went as far as
saying that federal funds should be available on a "level playing field
to faith-based programs," which clearly shows his lack of support for
the already existing government programs that preform the same jobs as
these faith based organizations. The Charity Aid, Recovery, and
Empowerment Act (C.A.R.E. Act) of 2003 has been another way in which
Bush's agenda of increasing faith-based funding to religious
organizations has been a success. By funding both faith-based
organizations and existing government run charitable organizations, tax
payers will be paying for many organizations to do the job that one, or
several well run organizations could do. By having a great deal
of organizations doing the same job, a great deal of money will be
wasted on hiring redundant employees for each organization.
While
the goal of faith-based organizations is good, they should not be
allowed to recieve federal and state funding like other government run
organizations. By giving these non government regulated
faith-based organizations tax dollars for charitable use the tax payer
and even the government will not know if the money given to these
organizations was used for its stated purpose. Under current laws
like the C.A.R.E. Act of 2003, faith-based organizations would be
allowed to discriminate against anyone of a faith or religion not of
that particular organization and by giving them federal and state tax
dollars, would violate the Bill of Rights.
"Catholic
officials pleased with Senate faith-based bill." America.
118.15 (28 April 2003): 4.
This article discusses the approval of the Catholic Church with the
C.A.R.E. Act of 2003 and the increased support for
federal funding to faith-based organizations that the C.A.R.E. Act
grants.
"Faith-based
funding doubles." National Catholic Reporter. 41.25 (22
April 2005): 3.
The increase in faith-based funding from 2003-2004 is discussed in this
article. The federal government granted $1.17
billion in faith-based funding, while in 2004 it increased to $2
billion, almost a 100% increase.
"Religious
Hiring Rights Debate Rekindles on Capital Hill."
http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/
newsletters/5-24-2005.html (24 May 2005).
Bush's plan to allow faith-based organizations to continue to
discriminate against people of different faiths is discussed in this
piece.
Sullivan, Amy. "Faith without works: after four years, the
president's faith-based policies have
proven
to be neither compassionate nor conservative." Washington
Monthly. 36.10 (October 2004): 30-33.
President Bush's great amount of support for faith-based organizations
is discussed in this article. Sullivan discusses Bush's
plan to allow faith-based organizations to take over the role that
government run organizations currently provide in
regards to social services because Bush feels faith-based organizations
work better.