A faith too saturated?

DiIulio would leave the playing field tilted against thoroughly religious charities | Marvin Olasky

Handout

Sometimes similar words disguise huge differences. Those who investigate the very limited success of the Bush faith-based initiative, which began eight years ago this week, might examine a book by John DiIulio, who in 2001 headed the attempt.

Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America's Faith-Based Future (University of California Press, 2007) is a decent book by a good man, but it incorporates a massive contradiction. On the one hand, DiIulio wanted and wants a level playing field for federal grantmaking: no tilt favoring secularist social service organizations, no tilt favoring religious ones. That's as it should be.

On the other hand, DiIulio wanted and wants a ban on federal grants going to groups that inseparably mix together their religious beliefs and their anti-poverty work. Should government funds go to programs that fight alcoholism and drug abuse effectively by stressing evangelism? No way—unless the organization separates its religious teaching from the social services it offers.