Pubdate: Thu, 01 Feb 2001
Source: Newsday (NY)
Section: Page A37
Copyright: 2001 Newsday Inc.
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Author: Marie Cocco

TIME FOR THAT OL' TIME RELIGION-THE PRIVATE KIND

THAT old-time religion is all the rage.

President George W. Bush is promoting the idea that community-based 
religious groups should get more government money to do the work they do 
already with government and private funds they already get. That is, feed 
the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the afflicted.

No one from the administration is pledging more money for such noble 
missions as drug-abuse treatment and prisoner rehabilitation. The surplus 
is already spoken for with Bush's promises for a big tax cut and a military 
buildup. It seems, rather, that a few different sectarian groups might gain 
access to the same pennies others scrounge for now.

Nor can officials explain their central claim that religious groups suffer 
discrimination in getting funds to support humanitarian endeavors. Catholic 
Charities, Lutheran Social Services, various Jewish federations and the 
Salvation Army already rely, for large parts of their budgets, on grants 
from federal, state and local governments.

They cannot now preach with the taxpayer money, and that seems to be the 
difference Bush seeks.

On Capitol Hill, Bush's choice for attorney general, John Ashcroft, has 
cited religion-though not his own-as the reason he opposed a gay man's 
nomination to be an ambassador. In trying to explain why he opposed the 
naming of James Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg, Ashcroft said he did 
not believe Hormel would be able to serve effectively there as, Ashcroft 
said, it was "the most Roman Catholic country in all of Europe." In fact, 
during the 1999 imbroglio over the Hormel nomination, the government of 
Luxembourg said it welcomed the appointment.

Religious fervor also breaks out in Virginia, home to many of the new Bush 
administration appointees as well as members of Congress who will vote on 
his programs.

The state legislature there is debating a measure to require all schools to 
post the motto "In God We Trust." This, in a state-like so many 
others-where those who worship Allah, Buddha and other deities are 
increasingly coming to work, study-and, yes, pay taxes.

The motto began appearing on paper currency in 1957-about the same time 
rock and roll, beatniks and all manner of other plagues were unleashed and, 
in the view of many, started the downward cultural spiral that now requires 
us to consider posting the slogan in schools. The greenback, evidently, did 
not do the trick.

Now, there is every good reason to believe that spiritual healing works for 
millions, as it has throughout history. Bush himself quit drinking in part 
through religious faith. There is reason to support religious-based social 
service organizations, so long as what they provide is social service. They 
deserve profound thanks, for these groups try to fill the inhuman gap in 
the safety net torn wide two decades ago.

This does not mean that public money, and public life, should become 
further entangled with religion. There is no reason to support religious 
indoctrination, no matter how pure the purpose, with tax money.

It would, like all public programs, require choices. And when you start 
talking about government officials choosing among religious groups you are 
really saying something dangerous, almost subversive, though few dare say it.

It is time to step back from this precipice. Time to go back to the good 
old days.

Those were the days when religion was private. You were no more likely to 
ask a friend if she skipped mass, or had a gay brother, or kept strictly 
kosher-or really, truly, prayed during that moment of silence-than you 
would ask what someone's parents fought about. Religion was for families, 
not government. And most certainly not politicians, save those who showed 
up for St. Patrick's Day.

It is an awfully long leap from those cheerful panderers to the unseemly 
public atonement that first Bill Clinton and now, Jesse Jackson, have seen 
fit to make. It is further, still, to the latest bipartisan craze for 
public displays of religiosity-let alone the expenditure of public funds 
for clearly religious purposes. It makes many people more wary, more 
suspicious of political motive. It is awfully hard to see how this protects 
true faith.
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