FAITH-BASED FUNDING ABUSES THE CONSTITUTION

President George W. Bush used Tuesday's big speech to add to his push for
"faith-based initiatives" that comingle the missions of religion and
government, crossing a line that was carefully drawn by our nation's
founders.

First the administration proposed to give religious institutions government
money for social work -- including provisions to allow recipients of the
funds to discriminate against needy people who did not share their
particular religious views.

During Tuesday's State of the Union address, he asked Congress to fund drug
treatment programs operated by religious groups -- even facilities that
eschew scientifically proven methods in favor of faith-based approaches that
include proselytizing.

Last week, the president announced plans to provide religious institutions
with tax dollars to build their centers of worship -- as long as social
services would also be provided under the same roof. The administration has
apparently decided not even to put up a pretense of deference to the
constitutional provision that separates church and state -- a wall that has
served the nation well.

The proposal to use tax dollars to build places of worship is especially
appalling, because the money would be rerouted from grants traditionally
aimed at housing for single-parent families, the homeless and people with
AIDS. Depending on the religious convictions of the organization receiving
the federal grant, some of those very people could be excluded from the
facilities this tax money would create.

This proposed policy change in the Department of Housing and Urban
Development should not see the light of day.

But that may require Congress stepping in to make sure the Constitution's
church-state barrier -- wisely mandated by people who had seen the effects
of state-supported religious discrimination -- remains intact.