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Last night's State of the Union address also marked the one-year anniversary of President Bush's announcement of his faith-based initiative. But last night, the subject warranted only a brief mention in a long list, after "productive farm policy, a cleaner environment, [and] broader home ownership." Though the House has passed a faith-based initiatives bill, the Senate is stalling. Are the Senate and White House letting the faith-based initiative die a quiet death?

Not necessarily. "I have not given up on my faith-based initiative," Bush told a meeting of mayors and country officials last Thursday at the White House. "I believe so strongly in the power of faith, I believe strongly that we must unleash the armies of compassion in every city in America to provide hope for people where hope doesn't exist. … I think we can get a bill out of Congress."

But that bill is unlikely to look much like H.R. 7, the bill the House passed in July. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Bush will make a speech this week outlining his latest plans for the faith-based initiative. "This time around, he won't push for allowing religious groups that accept federal aid to discriminate against job applicants whose views or lifestyles they oppose, such as homosexuals," wrote Journal reporter Jim VandeHei (the article is available only to Journal subscribers). Bush will also announce a successor to John DiIulio, who resigned in August as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "Bush advisers will only say that the new 'faith czar' won't grate on Republicans and administration officials as Mr. DiIulio sometimes did," VandeHei wrote.

Details of what Bush will push for are already emerging. White House aides told the Associated Press that Bush wants to expand Americorps, the domestic service program started by President Clinton, and open it up to faith-based organizations and churches. Some expected that such an announcement would have made last night's speech, but Bush kept his outline of the USA Freedom Corps—which includes Americorps, Senior Corps, Peace Corps, and other citizen service programs—to a minimum. In a speech today, Bush will give more details on his plans for this program.

This seems to be the new thrust for the faith-based initiative. The Hudson Institute's Marshall Wittman told The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday that the Bush administration plans "to cut off the more controversial sides of the faith-based efforts and try to give more momentum by linking it to secularized community efforts like Americorps." Already, reports the Inquirer, "about 10 percent of Americorps volunteers and 15 percent of Seniorcorps volunteers work with religious groups."

This doesn't just mean that protections against hiring mandates are likely off the table. The whole idea of "charitable choice"—letting faith-based organizations compete for government grants without sacrificing their religious nature—may be gone, too.

Therefore, it looks like Senate legislation on faith-based service is going to stick to the bare minimums that everyone can agree on. Earlier this month, a group of 33 ideologically diverse national leaders issued recommendations about what those points of common ground are. The invitees weren't all known for consensus-building, and are rarely on the same side of any church-state issue; representatives came from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Southern Baptist Convention, People for the American Way, Teen Challenge, the Freedom Forum, Big Brothers Big Sisters, black church groups, and other organizations.

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January (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46