A REFERENCE TO JEWS HEATS UP AID DEBATE

Two words spoken in testimony before a House subcommittee on
Wednesday have set off a new furor over President Bush's proposal to
channel government money to religious social service programs.

The words were those of the Rev. John D. Castellani, president of the
drug-treatment program Teen Challenge International U.S.A., who
testified that while some of the Jewish clients who had gone through
his evangelical Christian program returned to their Jewish faith,
others had become "completed Jews."

The term "completed Jews" is now in use by some evangelical
Christians and Jewish converts to describe Jews who have accepted
Jesus as their savior. To many Jews it is offensive because of the
implication that a Jew who has not accepted Jesus is not "complete."

Jewish and civil liberties groups are using the testimony as fresh
evidence that the president's initiative will result in
government-financed proselytizing.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Castellani said he had meant no offense
but wanted only to explain that his program accepted clients of many
faiths. He said some Jewish clients had converted to Christianity as
a result of their experience in Teen Challenge, a yearlong
residential program. He said that converting was their choice but
that the program "naturally encourages embracing Christian teaching."

Abraham H. Foxman, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League,
said the testimony "clearly illustrates the concern we have that
there is no way to separate the efforts to proselytize from the
efforts to reform people."