Black Community Voices Urge Caution Concerning Faith-Based Initiatives
by Chad Groening, Bill Fancher, and Jenni Parker
March 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - A black conservative social policy activist says she thinks George W. Bush's faith-based initiative is taking the wrong approach in trying to empower churches and faith-based groups to care for the needy.Last week, President George W. Bush renewed his commitment to his faith-based initiative, which would allow churches and other religious groups to receive federal taxpayer funds to assist the poor and provide numerous social services. But Star Parker, founder of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), feels the president's plan is off base. She questions why so many conservatives who would normally oppose the big government approach of throwing U.S. citizens' hard-earned tax dollars at poverty and related social problems are failing to speak out against a plan to get churches involved in much the same approach.
"Most people on the right, in particular the Christian Church community, are saying nothing," Parker complains. "In fact, even worse than saying nothing, many of them are actually lining up to get a government grant. This is not the [government's] responsibility, to give out grants of other people's money and redistribute wealth to try to take care of the needs of the poor."
The CURE spokeswoman says Christians should be wary of taking government money. The moment churches start accepting federal funding, she contends, the government immediately starts putting restrictions on churches, such as prohibiting them sharing their faith with those who receive benefits through their faith-based programs. "One of the things that government will do," the activist warns, "is regulate [churches] and make sure that they don't do the first step [to help people] out of poverty, which is preach the gospel."
And, in the long run, Parker believes government social programs -- even those administered by people in the Church -- will never solve the problem of poverty. "Frankly it's hurting the situation, because most people are not thinking too deeply about it," she says. "They figure somebody else is doing it -- that Uncle Sam is doing it. Most churches today don't even have an outreach directly to help people that are in a crisis."
According to the founder of CURE, what many churches do instead is allow their congregation members to be overtaxed, and then put their tax dollars into the government's hands. Then they "allow Washington to try to come up with some type of social program to try to help these folks," she says.
But Parker believes there is a better way for the federal government to help churches fulfill their spiritual mandate to address others' need. "If we are going to help people, then it has to be very local," she asserts. "So one of the things that the faith-based initiative should be looking at is tax credits and vouchers, as opposed to looking at direct grants."
Potter's House Pastor Wary of Handouts With Strings Attached
Prominent urban church leader Bishop T.D. Jakes also strongly cautions Christians about being quick to take advantage of the faith-based initiative. In an Associated Press interview last year, he remarked that tax-funded religious charities should serve everyone, but they need to retain their right to hire only fellow believers.
Jakes, the pastor of The Potter's House congregation in Dallas, says his church has provided input but refrained from taking funds from President Bush's faith-based initiative. The well-known minister and author does feel it is possible to separate a church's spiritual and secular missions; nevertheless, he advises churches that accept federal money to keep it carefully separated from other church finances in its own account.
Jakes says churches that do opt to take part in the faith-based initiative must take care to remain free and reserve their right to hire only people who share their faith and mission, or else run the risk that they may "cease to be the Church."
Black Success: 'It's Always About Character'
Black activist Gloria Jackson, granddaughter of Booker T. Washington, recently addressed a forum on Capitol Hill, where she commented that social programs have not done much to help the poor in America's black communities. To the contrary, she suggests many urban problems have remained largely unchanged, while liberal politicians tout the continued need for social programs in order to manipulate the black community to its own political advantage.
"One of the things that I think happens within our community is that for the Democratic Party to continue to win, they have to have the black vote," Jackson asserts. "So what they do is, they continue to tell us that in order for us to be successful we have to have social programs. But what they do doesn't benefit us. If you look at the inner cities -- and this is just a layperson looking at the results now of 40 years of dependency -- we see inner cities that are languishing."
The activist and head of the Booker T. Washington Speakers Network says in the past, the black community advanced largely by stressing character, hard work, and excellence. However, for the last several years, many so-called black leaders have collaborated with the liberal agenda, which has fostered an atmosphere of entitlement and dependency. But she contends that, as long as blacks think social programs are necessary for disadvantaged blacks to succeed, "then the Democrats, by using our 'leaders,' are able to control us -- to control our vote.
Jackson notes that her famous grandfather promoted the idea that the black community's advancement involved personal responsibility and "always begins from within." He taught that "personal transformation starts from within, that it's always about character, and that each of us should become a leader in his or own right," she says.
