The issue of "charitable choice" has touched off a spate of
conflicting comments among an assortment of American Jewish
groups, after Vice President Al Gore endorsed that idea of
enlisting religious organizations to provide social services
to the needy.
In a speech at the Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation
Center in Atlanta, Mr. Gore called for government funding of
"faith-based organizations to help them provide jobs and job
training, counselling and mentoring, food and basic medical
care."
Under the "New Partnership" program the Vice President
proposed, religious institutions could receive federal funds
for drug treatment programs, services for the homeless and
initiatives to combat youth violence. But the groups would
not be forced "to alter the religious character that is so
often the key to their effectiveness," Mr. Gore said.
"Freedom of religion," the Vice President said, "need not
mean freedom from religion."
Among the critics of the Vice President's comments was the
American Civil Liberties Union and the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism.
However, Agudas Yisroel of America and the Orthodox Union
praised Mr. Gore for his courage in taking what is, in some
circles, an unpopular stand.
"That your endorsement of a greater role for religious
entities in addressing social problems is deemed
controversial is a sad commentary on the harmful rigidity
that so often characterizes church-state rhetoric," Chaim
Dovid Zwiebel, Agudas Yisroel's executive vice president for
government and public affairs, wrote the Vice President.
"Perhaps your statement will encourage some fresh thinking on
this vital subject."
Agudas Yisroel has long championed legislation to make it
easier for religious organizations to participate in
government social service programs. It was one of the
earliest supporters of the original version of "charitable
choice," which was sponsored by Missouri Senator John
Ashcroft in an amendment to the Welfare Reform Act of
1996.
Agudas Yisroel has worked with Senator Ashcroft in developing
an expanded version of the proposal, which was formally
introduced the day after the Vice President's remarks.
Addressing concerns that government funding for religious
social service programs would dismantle the constitutional
wall separating church and state, Agudas Yisroel's Washington
Office director and counsel, Abba Cohen, noted that
charitable choice programs often include significant
inhibitions against the use of government funds for religious
purposes.
Thus, such proposals disallow the funds being used for
sectarian worship, instruction or proselytizing, and they
also provide any beneficiary who objects to receiving
services from a religious organization the right to receive
them from an alternate provider.
Moreover, religious groups providing such government-funded
services are required to make them available to all qualified
beneficiaries.
"There is an important principle at stake here," Mr. Cohen
said. "The foundations of faith and community that religious
institutions provide are important components of an effective
approach to many social problems this country faces. To
exclude religious groups from the field of social services
would be to drastically limit society's ability to address
these problems."
