"The Associated Press
Presidential Revival: President Bush speaks Tuesday at the White House National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives being held in Washington.
WASHINGTON - President Bush, trying to revive a stalled initiative, said Tuesday the doctrine of separation-of-state should not prevent religious groups from competing for government money to help the needy.
"I'm telling America, we need to not discriminate against faith-based programs," Bush told a White House conference of community leaders. "We need to welcome them so our society is more wholesome, more welcoming and more hopeful for every single citizen."
Opponents of Bush's initiative, launched in the early days of his administration, worry that government would wind up paying for religion. They also object to allowing taxpayer-funded groups to hire and fire based on religious persuasion. But the proposal is popular with religious groups, a key political constituency of Bush's, and he is pushing it as an election-year initiative.
"I fully understand it's important to maintain the separation of church and state," Bush said.
"We don't want the state to become the church nor do we want the church to become the state. We're in common agreement there."
"But I do believe that groups should be allowed to access social service grants so long as they don't proselytize or exclude somebody simply because they don't share a certain faith," he said."
And how pray-tell would the Government know whether proselytizing was happening? Would there be an oversight committee? What, exactly, would constitute proselytizing?
But wait there's more...
"Bush Promises Faith Groups Cultural Change
United Press International
President Bush Tuesday promised a change in U.S. culture to help faith-based organizations, creating three more federal centers for faith-based initiatives.
"It's hard to be a faith-based program if you can't practice faith," Bush told attendees of the first national annual White House Faith-Based Initiatives Conference in Washington.
"And the message to you is: we're changing the culture here in America," he said. "And we're making progress. We're changing the attitude here in Washington, D.C."
Bush signed an executive order Tuesday creating three more centers in federal departments -- for the Department of Commerce, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration.
These new centers join seven others that Bush created to help grass-roots faith-based organizations find federal funding.
"Government can't spend money on religious programs simply because there's a rabbi on the board, cross on the wall or crescent on the door. I view this as not only bad social policy -- because policy bypassed the great works of compassion and healing that take place -- I viewed it as discrimination, and we needed to change it," he said."
Noooo, the Government can't and shouldn't spend money on religious programs because they're religious programs!!! The job of the Government is to Govern, provide services for the people. A Government should not be pushing a religion, any religion. If religious institutions want to provide services, fine, let them. Keep the Government out of it.
Bush is only further opening the breach of the wall between Church and State. "In God We Trust" and "Under God" yesterday. Faith-based initiatives today. Tomorrow, public affirmations of Christianity as being the true U.S. religion? This is exactly how terrorism gets started, by eliminating Freedoms...
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