RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION DRESSED UP AS SOCIAL WELFARE

This message is to anyone who thinks that the separation of church and
state is a vital component of American liberty: Wake up and start
hollering. Our president is conducting a full frontal assault on this
vital right, and few beyond a handful of civil liberties groups are
paying any mind.

During the State of the Union address, Bush asked Congress to approve
$600-million over three years for drug and alcohol treatment. Noble as
this may seem, Bush is turning the effort into a way to divert public
dollars to religious groups.

His invited guests for the speech were Tonja Myles of the "Set Free
Indeed Program" at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, La., and Henry
Lozano of Teen Challenge California. Bush, who wears his religion not
only on his sleeve but as a very loud tie, held up the "Set Free
Indeed" program as a model, calling its work "amazing." He was telling
America that this is the type of program we should be pouring federal
dollars into.

But if you look at the program's Web site, you'll see that the
services provided are, well, "services." "We believe that recovery
begins at the Cross," says the group's mission statement. "We rely
solely on the foundation of the Word of God to break the bands of
addiction." So much for professional treatment protocols.

Similarly preachy providers are found at Teen Challenge, one of Bush's
favorite drug abuse programs. This is the outfit that told Congress in
May 2001 it hires only Christians. In his congressional testimony,
John Castellani, president of Teen Challenge International, boasted
that some Jewish participants come out the other side as "completed
Jews," missionary parlance for having been converted to Christianity.
"A personal relationship with Jesus Christ permeates everything we
do," says Castellani on his organization's Web site.

This is religious indoctrination dressed up to look like social
welfare.

That is not to say religion isn't a valid option for people looking
for help. Certainly for some, turning to faith can help break an
addiction. But government should have no role in funding conversions
and born-again epiphanies. Our pluralistic nation remains free of
religious strife because the Constitution prevents government from
underwriting faith. At a time when we are in a veritable holy war with
certain extremist elements within Islam, do we really want to toy with
this proven formula for internal peace?

None of this matters to Bush, who credits faith with helping him
overcome his own problems with alcohol. The only interest he has in
the Establishment Clause is in finding ways around it. Even without
the support of Congress, Bush has single-mindedly pursued his
faith-based agenda. There are now seven federal agency offices -- all
established by Bush -- devoted to redirecting tax money into the
coffers of religious institutions.

In addition, Bush has been laying the groundwork for more
entanglement. He has given faith-based providers the ability to refuse
to hire employees who don't pass a religious test -- call it federally
financed religious discrimination. And he has opened the door for
federal housing money to be used to build churches, synagogues and
mosques, as long as some of the structure is used for secular purposes.

All this destruction to the wall between church and state, and the
public has barely raised an eyebrow.

Emboldened, Bush is now pressing Congress to fund his multiyear,
$600-million drug abuse program with a twist: The money would be
handed out in the form of vouchers.

Yes, vouchers -- the mantra of the Religious Right relative to
schools, will now be expanded to include social welfare. That way
programs slathered in religiosity, such as Teen Challenge and Set Free
Indeed, can feed at the federal trough without having to secularize.

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that a Cleveland
program giving vouchers to parents to send their children to parochial
school was constitutional, the door has been open for this type of
expansion. And it was just a matter of time before Bush drove his
holy-rollin' Hummer through it.

Beyond the folly of giving drunks and drug addicts federal vouchers --
might the corner liquor store open up a counseling business on the
side? -- this attempt to obliterate church-state separation
demonstrates our president has no appreciation of history -- either
this nation's or the world's.

Someone needs to hand him James Madison's Remonstrance against
Religious Assessments, the founding father's 1785 polemic against a
bill in the Virginia legislature for a general assessment to fund
teachers of religion. Madison's eloquent appeal reminded the body that
"torrents of blood" have spilled when government entangles itself with
religion, and the bill was tabled. Bush is too blind to see the
dangerous road he's driving us down. Only noise from a concerned
public will make him stop.