Faith on the Hill

Dozens of major religious groups and denominations are urging Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to renounce a Bush-era memo that allows faith-based charities that receive federal funding to discriminate in hiring. Should religious charities that receive federal grant money be allowed to discriminate in hiring?

If history has taught us anything, it’s that blurring the lines between church and state always limits freedom. In the Middle Ages, every individual was expected to be part of the Christian community; the party line was that this body was especially ordained and sanctioned by God. Mission movements to lands all over the world were financed by their sponsoring states, and the real benefit was not in converting believers, but in colonizing new lands and getting valuable resources from these lands. Even in the early years of this country’s founding, there was a nationally-supported state religion in which all were expected to participate. Fortunately, by the time the 13 colonies appeared, volunteerism became the accepted practice, and freedom of religion became one of the pillars on which this country was founded.

If the U.S. government is allowed to dictate the hiring practices of faith-based organizations—as the Bush-era memo suggests—the direct and immediate harm is apparent. When job opportunities are restricted to those of a particular faith, equal opportunity is no longer equal. Civil rights become conditional. Religious freedom is limited. If this is allowed to happen, faith-based organizations could become de facto agencies of the government.

But the real danger, we all know, is that this kind of intervention with faith-based groups allows for government sanctioning of a particular religion, and in this case, that religion is Christianity. This practice is contrary to the very tenets this country was founded on. It’s allowing the government to promote a specific religious agenda in this country—the equivalent of what my younger colleagues call “sneaky Jesus.”

A few years ago, I attended a Shabbat dinner, and the conversation turned to the question of church and state. One comment by the rabbi summed up this issue: “Whenever I hear the president say this is a Christian country, I wonder—if I’d been living in Germany in 1938, how long I would have waited to leave?” I have never forgotten the quiet fear in his voice.