Bill Berkowitz, in
Slouching Towards Theocracy, reports on the progress of President Bush's "Faith Based" initiatives. But, the actual amount of money dispursed under the "Faith Based" umbrella by the US federal government and by states is hard to gauge and may be considerable greater. Here is a quick overview of the vast pools of federal funds recently opened to applications from faith-based groups. ( via
Theocracy Watch, section on
Faith Based )
By studying White House press releases and the White House web site, Daniel Zwerdling found that religious groups could apply to more than a hundred federal programs that gave out more than $65 billion. In addition, religious groups could apply for more money through state-administered programs.
:
BUT - non Christians NEED NOT APPLY....
Non-Christians need not apply ? :
BuzzFlash interview: Esther Kaplan, Journalist and community activist on the born-again White House :
Bush's faith-based initiative also privileges Christianity above all other religions. After sifting through every grant announcement I could get my hands on from Bush's faith-based offices, I couldn't find a single grant issued to a religious charity that wasn't Christian -- no Jewish charities, no Muslim charities, nothing. And when I spoke with Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, he confirmed that no direct federal grants from his program had gone to a non-Christian religious group. This kind of religious favoritism is exactly what the Constitution's establishment clause was put in place to prevent.
NOTE : My "$100 billion" ( or more ) figure represents an extremely rough tally of the overall federal grants which "Faith Based" groups can apply for. The actual sums dispersed are far lower, but the total dispersed can be expected to steadily increase year by year and amounts - really - to both a wholesale effort to foist federally provided social services off onto the "faith based' sector and also to sidestep federal laws on job discrimination :
But, that's old news - on to more recent developments :
According to Daniel Zwerdling who produced two programs on faith-based initiative for Bill Moyers TV show NOW in September, 2003, "administration spokesmen say they can't break down how much money has gone so far to religious groups .. they claim they don't keep that information."
The March, 2004, issue of Church and State reports that the "Faith Czar" Jim Towey announced to reporters that $40 billion dollars was now available to religious charities.
[ posted above : Daniel Zwerdling's $65 billion tally. Added to that, we have] :
From the Washington Post, January 4, 2005:
.... in 2003, groups dubbed "faith-based" received $1.17 billion in grants from federal agencies, according to documents provided by the White House to the Associated Press.
That's not enough, said H. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. An additional $40 billion in federal money is given out by state governments, he said..
This is the text of an executive order signed by Bush on June 1.
[ MEANWHILE ] ....while religious charities receive billions of dollars, federal programs are experiencing funding cuts. The largest federally funded after-school program, the $1 billion-a-year 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is threatened with a budget reduction of $400 million for the Fiscal Year 2004.
Unfortunately, some "Faith-Based" programs are failing miserably : Teen sex increased after abstinence program : Texas study finds little impact on sexual behavior ( MSNBC/Reuters, Feb. 1, 2005 )
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"We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe." - lobbyist Gary Bauer, head of Family Research Council and Promise Keepers supporter
"I listen to the feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are failures... They married some Caspar Milquetoast who asked permission to to to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need... a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead the home." - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of Moral Majority and a Promise Keepers speaker
"The 1985 Civil Rights Act is "one of the most frightening pieces of legislation that has been brought up." - Pat Robertson, Christian Coalition founder and Promise Keepers supporter Promise Keepers