Preserving Hospitality through Faith-Based Funding

Abstract

Introduction:  One of the ongoing questions encountered in the so-called separation between church and state concerns that of what type of government funding, if any, should go to religious organizations that provide social services. Recently, President Bush has talked about the need to include, and perhaps increase, public funding to «faith-based» social services which provide for a range of services such as drug rehabilitation, prison counseling, elderly care, and so on. Predictably, some call for expanding the number of services for which religious institutions may be funded, while others think any funding to religious organizations should be abolished. But while judgments about the propriety of such programs generally center on either the question of separation of church and state, or the degree to which such programs would alleviate certain social needs, less attention is given to the key question of whether allowing faith-based funding better serves those in need. One may well ask whether the debate should revolve around historical/theoretical distinctions between church and state, or around the question of what the needs of citizens are and what programs extend the most public hospitality to those in need. Is it a violation of hospitality to discriminate against programs with a faith-foundation which may more effectively meet the needs of some people? For example, substance abuse programs often rely on religious or quasi-religious foundations for providing clients with motivation and hope. On the other hand, some are concerned that faithbased funding actually hinders hospitality by the fact that otherwise religiously-solid programs may be enticed to diminish their faith approach in order to remain eligible for public funds, thereby actually harming the religious quality of these programs.