Pubdate: 01 Sep, 1999
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.
Author: Alan Elsner

BUSH'S CHRISTIAN 'ARMY OF COMPASSION' READY TO MARCH

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - The Rev. Charles Harrison, pastor of a Methodist
church in one of the toughest areas of Indianapolis, sees himself as a
"foot soldier of Christ" fighting crime in his community.

Soon, he may become a recruit in the "armies of compassion" that Republican
presidential front-runner George W. Bush is promising to unleash across the
United States -- if he is elected to the White House next year -- to
confront the nation's most pressing social problems.

"We do see ourselves as foot soldiers for Christ in the community,"
Harrison said. "We can address real moral issues with our young people in
the street in a way that the police and government agencies cannot."

In January, Harrison helped create the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, an
alliance of church groups that formed to combat crime and help young people
in two of the toughest neighborhoods of the country's 12th largest city.

Pastors began walking the streets of the city by night, getting to know
gang members and drug dealers. Eight months later, homicides in the
neighborhoods have dropped by 45 percent compared to the same period last year.

"There have been homicides where we believe we have prevented retaliation
because we have been involved in the lives of the young people and we
talked to them and ministered to them," Harrison said.

'GOD HAS SOMETHING BETTER FOR YOU'

"We have also offered spiritual counseling for inmates in the city jail,
telling them 'God has something better for you,'N' he said. His program
includes job training for released prisoners and other unemployed youth.

Homicide rates have been falling for the past several years in most big
cities but remained stubbornly high in Indianapolis until this year. Mayor
Stephen Goldsmith said it was because the scourge of crack cocaine arrived
later and persisted longer in his city than in most others.

Assistant Police Chief Mike Spears agreed the pastors could reach young
people in ways police officers found it very difficult to do. "The youth
here might listen to people from their own community and from the churches
who are identifiable with the community. They've been very useful to us,"
he said.

Goldsmith, who is Bush's chief policy adviser on domestic issues, sees
Harrison's organization as a perfect example of the Republican candidate's
concept of how churches can be harnessed to help solve social problems.

"Success in reducing violence and mayhem starts with a belief in God.
Particularly in the areas where the pastors are walking and proselytizing,
we have dramatically reduced homicides," he said at a ceremony at which he
handed Harrison a check from the city of $50,000 to help spur its activities.

It was no accident that Bush, the governor of Texas who leads the
Republican presidential field by a wide margin, chose Indianapolis as the
site for his first major campaign speech.

LOOKING FIRST TO FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

"In every instance where my administration sees a responsibility to help
people, we will look first to faith-based organizations, charities and
community groups that have shown their ability to save and change lives,"
Bush said.

The son of former President George Bush promised to dedicate $8 billion in
his first year in office to support charities and other private
institutions to help save and change lives. "We will rally the armies of
compassion in our communities to fight a very different war against poverty
and hopelessness, a daily battle waged house-to-house and heart-by-heart,"
Bush declared.

Goldsmith, completing the final four months of his second four-year term as
mayor, has been tipped as a possible attorney general or housing secretary
if Bush wins next year. He said he would like to see most of the social
services for the poor now provided by the government opened to competitive
bidding by churches and charities.

"Child welfare services, child care services and the range of other support
services you would find in a troubled urban area -- all of those should be
available to faith-based neighborhood groups who wish to bid on delivering
the services," he said in an interview with Reuters.

He envisions churches bidding to take responsibility for the delivery of
services like meals on wheels or running homeless shelters in their own
neighborhoods.

"I do believe faith-based groups bring something special that other groups
can't, which is an ability to transform an individual through religion or
belief in God," Goldsmith said.

He said groups providing such services should not be compelled to remove
religious symbols as long as the individual receiving the services has the
choice of getting them from a nonreligious source as well.

"Government dollars can't and shouldn't fund proselytizing, but nor should
we require a faith-based organization to remove the tools that make it
particularly effective if those Bibles or crosses or prayer services are
funded privately, so long as a person in need has choices so we're not
forcing them through the church door," he said.

Democratic Party Chairman Roy Romer said Goldsmith's ideas were
irresponsible and could threaten important public services such as
unemployment benefits, health insurance for retirees, school lunches, food
stamps, early childhood education and disability assistance. "We need a
real partnership with charities, not an excuse to walk away from successful
programs that help working families," Romer said.

Such talk is far removed from the streets of Indianapolis, where residents
say that government has failed them and should now give them the funds to
do the job on their own.

"Can somebody say Hallelujah? I'm really excited about what God is doing
here," the Rev. David Coatie said at the ceremony. 

- ---
MAP posted-by: Thunder