New report finds common ground on
community help for those in need
Document outlines ways to provide assistance
without violating the Constitution, says AU's Lynn
Press release from Americans United for Separation
of Church and State Contact, January 15, 2002 http://www.au.org
[1-15-02]
Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced today that
it supports a consensus report designed to outline appropriate ways to
provide assistance to those in need through faith-based and other
community organizations.
The report, "Finding Common Ground," gives
29 recommendations for meeting human needs. The 54-page document is the
result of a months-long discussion by more than 30 representatives of
groups that have been involved in the debate over funding
"faith-based" social services.
"I am pleased at the number of actions we agreed
can be taken in this area without raising constitutional issues,"
said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "I hope
this is the direction Congress and the president take to move beyond the
divisiveness of the debate in the House last summer."
(In July, a deeply divided House approved H.R. 7, a
package of measures designed to subsidize "faith-based" social
services. The bill was controversial because it granted government
support to religion, allowed publicly funded employment discrimination
and paved the way for voucherization of social services.)
Lynn, an attorney and United Church of Christ
minister, was an active participant in the Working Group on Human Needs
and Faith-Based Community Initiatives, the organization that sponsored
the effort to find common ground. The Working Group's members ranged
from representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, the American
Jewish Committee and People for the American Way to the Southern Baptist
Convention, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Evangelicals for
Social Action.
The report says efforts to help the needy "can
and must be carried out in ways that are effective and that strengthen
our democracy while upholding our commitment to religious liberty as
guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."
Lynn said that although Americans United remains
adamantly opposed to government funding of religion, he was pleased to
see the report outline other types of approaches that help people in
need.
Among the recommendations are a major increase in
private giving to charities, changes in the tax code to encourage
individual and corporate donations and streamlining the federal process
to encourage formation of charities.
In addition to recommendations for action, the report
also includes analysis and clarification of some of the issues
surrounding the "faith-based initiative."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog
group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization
educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in
safeguarding religious freedom.
