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It seems the
only thing worse than a politician who doesn’t keep promises is one
who does. Accordingly, the Bush administration should expect plenty
of flak over the announcement of
$2.2 million in Department of Health and Human Services
grants for programs to improve child
welfare.
Horror of horrors, some of
the money will go to faith-based organizations, as pledged during
the 2000 presidential campaign. To make maters worse, a portion of
the funding will go to programs aimed at strengthening marriage.
By Washington standards $2.2
million doesn’t rise to the level of chicken feed, but there are
critical principles at stake. I have my own qualms about
governmental faith-based initiatives, revolving around where ones’
faith lies when one depends on tax dollars. However the noisiest
objections waft from the separation-of-church-and-state camp.
Their fears are
understandable. The “separation” concept is nowhere to be found in
the Constitution, having been established by judicial decree rather
than the Founders or by amendment. When you live by the courts you
die by the courts; a legal challenge could potentially result in a
shift toward the Constitution’s original intent, which would never
do.
But this is old hat. A
fresher approach, typified by Americans United for Separation of
Church and State, is to question the value of marriage to a civil
society at all. Spokesman Robert Boston told The Associated Press
“Whether a person gets married or stays married is none of the
government’s business … it feels paternalistic for government to be
interfering.”
For paternalism in action,
take a hard look at the programs geared toward cleaning up the
debris of our weakened marriage culture. Study after study has
found higher rates of child abuse and neglect, domestic violence,
and poverty in “nontraditional” families. Pointing this out is a
fine way to get treated to an email flambé, but, in the words of
John Adams, “Facts are stubborn things.”
If Mr. Boston and his group favor
dropping the remedial social programs as well, they’ve kept it a
guarded secret. If government intrusion were its real concern,
Americans United for Separation of Church and State would be fired
up to dismantle the Department of Health and Human Services,
not protesting the involvement of faith organizations.
America benefits from healthy
families both socially and financially, and while government’s
proper role is fair game for debate, a $2.2 million ounce of
prevention makes considerably more sense than the pounds of cure
that are currently expended. But why turn to religious groups?
Sandra Bender is Director of the Marriage
Coalition, a group awarded $200,000 to test a course for
impoverished single parents that would stress marriage and child
support. The organization is composed of clergy from various
denominations, mental health professionals, and others who design
and sponsor educational programs intended to cut the divorce rate
and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock births.
“Seventy-five percent of people who get
married get married at churches so that’s where our customers are,”
Bender told AP, sounding like the Willie Sutton of the marriage
preservation business. Sutton, you may recall, is reputed to have
claimed he robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.”
One can reasonably question
the merits of government sponsored premarital counseling, but if
it’s going to happen, where would you look for people to counsel if
not in churches? The Department of Motor Vehicles?
Misgivings over the government’s role
aside, marriage as an institution is more worthy of tax dollars than
a host of other real and perceived problems we smother with dollars,
and a part for faith-based organizations only makes sense. Perhaps
we’ve grown unaccustomed to that in public policy, but I suspect we
could get used to it. |
