Faith-Based Human Services:
Violation of Church and State?
Kenneth Cauthen
The issue of government support
for faith-based human
services is full of complications, dangers, ambiguities, and
subtleties.
The beauty of religiously-oriented social ministries is the potential
for
dealing with people as whole selves, i. e., giving them food for the
soul
as well as for the body. But this very unity poses the problem of how
it
is Constitutionally licit for the government to enable the
providing
of secular bread without funding sectarian religion. If, on the other
hand,
the delivery of goods and services to the needy is totally
divorced
from the religious dimension, in what meaningful sense is it any longer
faith-based, apart from merely being sponsored by a religious group?
Why
shouldn't the government fund a church soup kitchen if all that is
dispensed
is soup? Because, we say, what the church would spend on soup can now
be
spent on the church bus. But maybe they would just serve more
soup.
Maybe the soup itself is a witness to the faith behind it, but if
it is, is that not a sponsorship of religion? Would the government
discriminate
against some religious groups? Would giving government money to
churches
tend to dull the prophetic urge to be critical of the state? Would the
government require conformity to certain rules that would restrict
church
autonomy? What is a religious group? What does faith-based mean?
Can we think our way through this thicket without falling into
confusion?
A strict and purist position on
these matters is impossible in
practical
terms. Many lines have to be drawn in shades of gray. We have to do a
lot
of British "muddling through." Those who look for absolutely
clear
prescriptions requiring no delicate balancing acts are doomed to
perpetual
frustration. Or they may be tempted to resort to desperate efforts to
find
purity of doctrine by suppressing legitimate elements in the total
ensemble
of principles that govern the nation.
I invite comments, criticisms,
refutations, suggestions, and
corrections.
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If you want to take a break for some fun
before you get to the
serious stuff, the links below will take you to some short videos
of a
humorous nature that I made. They poke good-natured fun
at
some funny aspects of religion, churches, theology, right-wing
Protestant religion, and the mixture of right-wing religion and
politics. They are designed purely for entertainment and laughter. I
hope you enjoy them. Here
is a list of my movies that play
on Windows Media Player.
Where you can have have your own way in this personally customized church: 3 parts Customized Church, Part 1
For an updated version of Mother Goose for the modern age, visit Mother Goose
Goes Electronic Having a Web site is
becoming a family enterprise. First to have a Pagewas my son. Paul Cauthen
The latest entry is that of my son-in-law and daughter.
Ric Brown and Nancy
Cauthen
These sites are very different, but both are
creative, imaginativeproductions. They would welcome a visit.
Please remove * in my e-mail address before sending. The * was added to thwart spammers. Thank you.