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Sidebar |
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March 2002
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Faith-based initiatives:
doorway to church-state entanglement? |
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One place where the struggle
over church-state relations has been most evident in recent years
is in efforts to enact legislation establishing "charitable
choice" or "faith-based initiatives." Churches
long have been able to provide social services in partnership
with governmental agencies through the establishment of 501(c)3
charters, which are designed to prevent inappropriate church-state
entanglement. The new CC/FBI initiatives have been framed in such
a way that, in the judgment of many, churches would actually be
agents of the government but also be free to urge their particular
religious |
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beliefs on those to whom
they provide shelter, day care, drug counseling, job training
and other services. While those who support such legislation argue
that this would not be the case, concerns over the potential entanglement
of church and state have left this initiative in "legislative
limbo." |
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Regardless of how this legislative debate
comes out, our Reformed tradition suggests that while cooperation
between church and government in meeting human need is appropriate
and desirable, critical distance between the institutions of
the church and the state is essential. It is important for the
ability of the state to function on behalf of all the people,
whose personal beliefs may be quite diverse, and also for the
church as it lifts up to the state God's requirement that "justice
roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing
stream" (Amos 5:24).
The "Go Figure" department
in this issue (p. 5) gives research findings on how Presbyterians
feel about "charitable choice."
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