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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My E-Mail Address

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

Customized Church, Part 2

Customized Church, Part 3

For the goings on at Purity Baptist Church, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS4rKjDYvA0

The Real Meaning of Original Sin

This church goes strictly by the Book.
Strictly by the Bible

I am also into blogging, You will find periodic articles on current events at  http://johnwilfred.blogspot.com/ 

Presently, the following essays on theological and ethical topics are available:
What I Believe: A Mini-Systematic Theology
About the Author
A List of my Books
Blogs of Mine , Part  I, Theology
Blogs of Mine, Part II, Current Events
Blogs of Mine, Part III, Politics
Blogs of Mine, Part IV, Humor, Miscellany
Pope John Paul II: Blessing and Curse to the World
 Outrages of the Schiavo Case
Final Reflections on the Terri Schiavo Case
Liberal Church as Impotent Political Force
 Interpreting the Bible Today
 The Authority of the Bible
 Using the Bible with Integrity
Debate on Clergy Housing Deduction
 Theology as Religious Belief 
 Natural Law and Moral Relativism
 What is Truth -- and Does it Matter?
 A Doctrine of God (Short Version)
 A Doctrine of God (Long Version)
Trinity: God, Christ, Spirit
 God as Masculine and Feminine
 Theodicy: the Problem of Evil
 Theodicy: A Heterodox Alternative
 The Many Faces of Evil
 A Contemporary Christology
 Christ and Christians:
A Critique of Nieburhr's Christ and Culture
 The Incompatibility of Christianity and Civilization.
Christian Ethics
Process Christian Ethics
The Ethics of Belief
Relativism, Morality, Belief
Relating Jesus to Jefferson
 Liberation Themes in Country Music
 Liberation Themes in White Southerners
Southern Tragedy
Capital Punishment
Physician Assisted Suicide
Prescription Drugs and the Little Red Hen
  Bio-Ethical Decision Making
Prostitution
 Abortion
Drug Policy
Homosexuality: Same Sex Love is OK
Theology and Ecology
Religion and Politics
Science and Theology
Church and State
A Short Biographical Sketch

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.

 My E-Mail Address


Created: Thursday, June 21, 2001, 11:50 AM


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