$1B Given to Faith-Based Groups in 2003

[stopbush]

$1B Given to Faith-Based Groups in 2003

17 minutes ago
AP

By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The government gave more than $1 billion in 2003 to organizations it considers "faith-based," with some going to programs where prayer and spiritual guidance are central and some to organizations that do not consider themselves religious at all.

snip

Visitors to TMM Family Services in Tucson, Ariz., which received $25,000 for housing counseling, are greeted by a photo of Jesus and quotes from the Bible."We believe that people being connected to the faith of their choice is important to them having a productive life," said Don Strauch, an ordained minister and executive director of the group, which offers a variety of social services. "Just because we take government money doesn't mean we back down on that philosophy."

All told, faith-based organizations were awarded $1.17 billion in 2003. That is about 12 percent of the $14.5 billion spent on social programs that qualify for faith-based grants in five federal departments. White House officials expect the total to grow.

.
An AP analysis of the $1.17 billion and nearly 150 interviews in 30 states with grant recipients found:

_Many are well-established, large social service providers that have received federal money for decades. More than 80 percent of recipients at HHS had received federal money before. At HUD, the figure was 93 percent.

_Two programs account for half of the $1.17 billion total: A HUD program known as Section 202 that builds housing for low-income poor people, and Head Start, a large preschool program for poor children. Both of them are dominated by longtime grant recipients that able to handle large amounts of money — not the small church groups sometimes evoked by the White House.

_Many organizations insist they do not belong on a list of "faith-based organizations," even though they may have religious roots.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050102/ap_on_go_ot/federal_faith

[Stephanie]

1. Were any of them non-Christian?

Just wondering.

[0007]

13. Like Senior Companion Programs.

[rsmith6621]

2. Not one Jewish....Muslim or Buddist

shared in the pot............NADA according ot the article

[yankeedem]

8. NOT true

As much as I would like to believe that it was only to fundies, in my home state 650k was sent to a Jewish Medical Centre in Perth Amboy, and substantial amounts to Jewish organizations in New York City and State.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/wdc/faithbased/index.html?SITEAP&SECTIONHOME


Follow the link and find out for yourself.

[jukes]

3. tax funding

for xian proselytizing. welcome to the theocracy.

[Ian David]

4. This includes The Moonies and The Church of $cientology

Somewhere on DU I have a previous post on the Bush Administration, Moonies, and $cientologists.

[Mike Niendorff]

5. So, what is anyone going to do about it?

I'm not trying to be glib, but these people just don't care if we sit here and impotently bitch about what they're doing. Unless and until we actually start putting up an effective resistance, this is all just pissing in the wind.


MDN

[Ian David]

6. $35 million LOAN for Tsunami victims, $31 million GRANT for abstinence

Abstinence Grants
50 new grants were awarded, totaling more than $31 million, for abstinence-only education programs through HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). For more information, click here.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/e188819af77b959bbf431d00bb2075ae1fd8ed11.html

And again, that includes programs administered by the Moonies and Scientologists.

[yinkaafrica]

9. the truth is ugly

Those are some grim numbers

[Zhade]

22. Once again, they make me ASHAMED to be American.

NT!

[aikido15]

23. Me too...

I'm waiting, as they are, for the rapture to levitate them up to heaven so the rest of us can get on with life.:eyes:

[cornermouse]

7. Some might consider this brainwashing...

"At the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., Life Connections got more than $50,000 to help inmates who are about to be freed and who volunteer to participate and pick one of six religious programs to follow. Activities include a two-week spiritual retreat and six weeks of intense religious study."

8 weeks of religious instruction, 6 of them "intense"? I wonder if they keep them sleep deprived as well.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Here lies the concept of seperation of church and state...

May it rest in peace, because none of us on this side of the ground will.

[Placebo]

11. Wow, they cleaned up!

Ugh. Imagine where that money could have been better spent. :cry:

[AngryOldDem]

15. How do you know that it was all wasted money?

[No Exit]

12. Hey, that's funny

Head Start got all that money in the Age of Bush? Well, gee, I thought Bush's "base" were very much against Head Start. They consider government schools to be nothing but brainwashing centers, and they consider Head Start to just be an extension of said brainwashing to the pre-school age group.

How funny that in the supremacy of their soiled god, Bush, this money goes to Head Start... and yet they still support him and the other Republicans??

[0007]

14. Is there a list of the Faith-Based programs that the public

can see?

Has anyone seen such a list & the money amount?

[Ian David]

16. Associated Press has the list

But their link in the article is broken.

[RadiDem]

17. Maybe I should start a Church of Satan faith-based

group of some kind, or a pagan or wicca group, so how much dough I would get then.

[mrdmk]

18. Faith Based or Religion is just another way to control the

population. This is why we have or use to have separation from church and state. Mr. Bush Jr. does know this. It is also scratch your back, scratch my back with all of the religious backing that Mr. Bush Jr. receives. This administration is not going to protect the Constitution, Mr. Bush Jr. concern is to stay in power. We may need to start to look at 2008 as a problem to get Mr. Bush Jr. out of the White House.

[superconnected]

19. so they bought the religous vote for 1 billion

of OUR money.

[Ian David]

20. A cautionary tale for churches receiving faith-based money

Please see The Solomon Amendment:

Solomon Amendment Response and Protest

To comply with the Solomon Amendment, the law schools must affirmatively assist military recruiters in the same manner they assist other recruiters, which means they must propagate, accommodate, and subsidize the military’s message. In so doing, the Solomon Amendment conditions funding on a basis that violates the law schools’ First Amendment rights.

Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights (FAIR) v. Rumsfeld
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
November 29, 2004
www.law.georgetown.edu/solomon/Index.html


Court ruling sides with nondiscrimination in colleges ...
Fort Wayne News Sentinel, IN - Dec 17, 2004
... The court sided with a coalition of law schools that filed a
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/10439551.htm

Two Brainerd men lead anti-military recruiting effort at Hamline
Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN - Dec 15, 2004
... president Dan Loritz said the university would continue to allow military recruiters on campus because the 1995 law, called the Solomon Amendment, remains in ...
http://www.brainerddispatch.com/stories/121504/new_1215040034.shtml

And the fundies take on it:


Another Reason to Stop the Obstruction of Judicial Nominations
TruthNews.com - Dec 20, 2004
... That body moved last month to block enforcement of the "Solomon Amendment," legislation that requires colleges and universities to allow Defense Department job ...
http://www.truthnews.net/world/2004120167.htm

[rainbow4321]

24. WorkingForChange ; Christian right's compassion deficit

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18309



Christian right's compassion deficit
More than 100,000 dead in south Asia, but it's business as usual at the web sites of America's Christian right organizations.


It took President Bush three days to ready himself to go before the television cameras and make a public statement about Sunday's devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck southern Asia. Even though he was late, and much more money will be needed, the president pledged at least $35 million in aid to the victims of the disaster. But, as of December 30, some of the president's major family-values constituents have yet to be heard from: It's business as usual at the web sites of the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, and the Coral Ridge Ministries.


These powerful and well-funded political Christian fundamentalist organizations appear to be suffering from a compassion deficit. Organizations which are amazingly quick to organize to fight against same-sex marriage, a woman's right to choose, and embryonic stem cell research are missing in action when it comes to responding to the disaster in southern Asia. None of their web sites are actively soliciting aid for the victims of the earthquake/tsunami.

In fact, there is no mention of the giant earthquake and tsunami that devastated southern Asia. There are no headlines about the dead, injured or the tremendous damage; there are no urgent appeals for donations; there are no phone numbers to call; there are no links to organizations collecting money and providing aid for the victims.

While many Christian evangelical organizations have rushed to help the victims, why aren't the nation's major religious right political groups -- quick to claim the moral high-ground at every opportunity -- putting their organizational muscle to good use? Why hasn't the devastation from the earthquake/tsunami been on the radar screens of these groups? Are they all on a values vacation?

[rainbow4321]

21. Denver Post: Who owns America's moral values?

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E158%7E2626916,00.html



Much post-election punditry equated Christian beliefs with moral values and suggested that Christians were the most unified and potent force in politics in 2004. This oversimplifies America's relationship with religion. It gives a false impression that a monolithic interpretation of Christianity exists among us and that religious devoutness equals red, and red (never blue) equals morally right.

Oversimplification of American religious belief and practice is a brilliant political strategy. It polarizes our society and mobilizes extreme positions at either end of the political spectrum. While two opposing, irreconcilable viewpoints duke it out, real issues go unaddressed.

American moral values do not belong to just one side, to one Western religion or Christian tradition, to so-called red states - or to blue ones, for that matter. American moral values are, by definition, ours - all of ours. These values include equality, social and economic justice, environmental responsibility and democracy. They are rooted in philosophical and ethical beliefs that run deep and over which no one group has a monopoly.

One of the most dismaying aspects of this year's election was the attempt and relative success on the part of extreme partisans and conservatives to hijack the meaning of moral values and to recast guardianship of them as the special privilege of a few. More than a few of our officials owe their election or appointment to this hijacking.

[The Judged]

25. Is the government allowed to send my tax payments to religious firms?

[slay]

26. What if you just need help and don't want to be converted or preached to?

I guess you look for help outside of America. :(