Crossing the Line Between Church and State

The separation of church and state has been a prominent fixture in American democracy since Thomas Jefferson pushed for the division. Yet since George W. Bush took office the line between the two has been blurred. One of the first major moves Bush did once entering office was to create the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He then moved to construct similar offices in other major government departments, clearly crossing the line and bring the state into religion. This move helped him win the religious right vote. As a result in the recent 2009 election the two candidates joined in the support of government funding for faith-based organizations.
The main purpose of faith-based organizations is to help people and rid society of its social ills. On the outside this seems like a good idea, but the reality is that along with providing these services to the needy they also have a religious agenda. Served along side their meal programs for the needy is a hearty helping of Christianity. Michelle Goldberg put it best when she wrote,” …we’re becoming a country in which people literally have to pray for public help”.
The majority of the funds allotted for this program are being snatched up by Christian organizations. In a 2003 study by the Associated Press found that only 56 grantees were not Christian groups (Goldberg 121). This worked out well for Bush, since he was elected on the strength of the Christian Nationalist. This was the same conclusion John Dilulio, the first head of the faith-based office came to, “…the program was meant to help the Bush base, not the poor” (Goldberg 121). By keeping them happy he ensured himself that Christian Nationals would continue to support him and vote for him a second time.
This Christian support is what drove presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain to pledge to continue the program if they were elected. Both candidates were vying for the Christian vote and believed supporting this issue would give it to them. Obama was the first to raise the issue in a speech on July 1, 2008. He wanted to continue with the program but under a new name, the Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He also wanted to eliminate the use of unfair hiring practices that were allowed by Bush. Under Bush organizations could restrict who they hired based on their religion. McCain on the other hand agreed with Bush and wanted to keep the hiring practices as they were. Christian Nationalist who supported Bush bashed Obama for his views, but in the end he won the election.
Religion is an extremely personal matter. One in which the government has no right to enter. Yet they feel the need to fund faith-based programs not because it is the right thing to do but because it is a way of getting elected. The line between church and state has not completely been erased but it has been crossed and because candidates need church support to be elected it will probably never be the same.

References
Boston, R. (2008). 'Faith-based' based flare up: government aid to social service ministries becomes hot topic in presidential campaign. Church & State, 61(8), 172-174. http://search.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org