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Posted on 01/13/2003 5:44:56 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Already under attack from the Left and increasingly from the Right, the White House is defending a plan to expand its Faith Based Initiative in order to fund religious groups dedicated to environmental causes like "global warming."
Jerry Lawson, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, recently advocated the expansion of President Bush's program while speaking to a group of environmentalists in Washington. See Earlier Story.
Some conservatives immediately complained that Lawson was proposing to take the Faith Based Initiative in a direction not originally intended by the president. One critic of the idea called it "tragic."
But, in a Thursday interview with CNSNews.com , David Kuo, deputy director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, called the EPA's efforts to include religious groups that advocate green causes a "great" idea.
"We are seeking to expand the initiative across the government because we think the involvement of faith based and community groups is important," Kuo said.
"If EPA or the Department of Veterans Affairs or any other organization wants to involve faith and community based groups, that is great, and we are fully supportive of that," Kuo added.
Critics From The Left And Right
Even before the recent conservative backlash, the Bush Faith-Based Initiative was under attack from liberals for allegedly violating the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits government from establishing religion.
President Bush believes the faith based plan is necessary to eliminate the barriers now hindering religious-affiliated groups from participating in government-funded community and welfare services.
But groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State oppose the idea.
"It will be interesting to see whether this will be as popular with some of his political allies as the other aspects of the program have been," said Joe Conn, spokesman for Americans United.
Conn believes the proposal to include environmental causes in the awarding of grants under the Faith Based Initiative is the "logical outgrowth of the kind of agenda [Bush] has been promoting."
"The Bush administration seems to think that religion is the answer to every social ill and now they are expanding the initiative to environmental problems as well," Conn said. "It is one area that does point up some of the contradiction in this whole Faith Based Initiative movement."
A free market environmental watchdog group also assailed the White House and the green movement for seeking to expand the mission of the Faith Based Initiative.
"It's tragic. Unfortunately, all too often, as is the case with various federal programs, they come into existence and essentially take on a life of their own," said Dave Riggs, executive director Greenwatch.
"Despite Bush's lauded intentions, the bureaucracy is taking this as opportunity to further fund liberal green causes," Riggs added. "There has always been a very cozy relationship between the federal environmental bureaucracy and the big green groups ... the EPA alone doles out millions and millions of dollars every year to green causes."
Riggs said he is not surprised by the recent events, especially with former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman currently administering the EPA.
"Whitman has a strong track record of working with big green environmental groups, sometimes against the president's agenda," Riggs said. "It does not surprise me that this idea is it coming out of her EPA," he added.
As director of the EPA's Energy Star program, Lawson helps small business and religious institutions improve their energy efficiency.
When he met with environmental and religious groups Dec. 19, Lawson said he was seeking ideas about how religious groups might be able to promote green causes like climate change and pollution control through use of the White House Faith-Based Initiative.
"A couple of days ago, one of the higher-ups at EPA called me, and we talked about grants. This person said to me ... 'look if you hear of good ideas of faith-based groups that are environmental proposals, let me know,'" Lawson told the gathering.
"So, I would like to offer myself as a conduit," he told the participants at the Worldwatch Institute symposium entitled, "Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a Sustainable World."
'Armies of Compassion'
President Bush, in a Dec. 12 speech announcing a series of executive orders on faith based initiatives, said the program was necessary to "help clear away a legacy of discrimination against faith-based charities" in order to "rally and encourage the armies of compassion."
"Government can and should support social services provided by religious people, as long as those services go to anyone in need, regardless of their faith," Bush explained.
Kuo echoed the president's comments about the initiative.
"What the president really envisioned is a determined attack on need led by America's charities and churches and synagogues and mosques and philanthropies and foundations," Kuo explained.
"That's what this initiative is about. It is about encouraging the full participation by America's armies of compassion in meeting the very serous social needs that exist," Kuo added.
Despite this clearly stated social service mission, Kuo said he welcomes a much broader interpretation of the president's initiative.
"If there are anti-global warming federal funds available because there is that program, then a faith-based group should be able to apply for that and if in the federal grants process that includes the application process, if those people come out at the top of the heap, great," Kuo said.
Lawson also conceded that the faith-based initiative was originally designed to address unmet social needs, but said the federal grant program could be expanded to include green causes.
"The original vision and the current vision is still social services ... What I am doing and other people at EPA are doing is looking at the programs we have available today that can benefit faith-based groups," Lawson said. "Those of us at EPA and the environmental movement are recognizing that the faith community is also interested in the environment."
When asked how green causes could qualify for faith-based grants, he was open to suggestion.
"We are trying to figure that out at this time. I have become somewhat of a student of White House faith-based initiatives ... The money can't be used to proselytize or promote your religion, but the money can be used to meet objectives that EPA has out there anyway, such as addressing climate change or water pollution," Lawson explained.
"And you can work through your faith-based group to achieve these things," he added.
Gary Gardner, director of research at Worldwatch, thought Lawson's proposal was worthy of consideration.
"There is a role for the government to bring religious groups and environmental groups together," said Gardner, a sponsor of the Dec. 19 meeting.
Green Movement Turns To God To Advance Cause
This is D1 here, will someone just shoot me and get it overwith!
I want out too! I KNEW something like this would happen!
We are in the end times it appears. priests molest children in the name of Jesus. We go to war with a man loosely linked to the death 3000 americans... whilst we murder 4100 little "fetuses" a day with the killing machine at home... and meanwhile our borders are wide open and we are overrun with terrorists from abroad, illegals and the criminally insane.
Yup... bushbots be here any moment to tell us how "good we have it" with W at the helm. and we are in very big trouble... I feel so much safer now that we have tommy t, running homland securi---teee...
How much vetoing has he done in the first two YEARS of his administration? How many billions has he cut from democrat spending priorities? Where are the school vouchers? Where is the TESTING of LIBERAL homosexual drug-addict teachers to see what they are really teaching with our tax dollars?
NOW we will have MORE federal funding of greenie groups. How long before ELF becomes a religion that can qualify?
3 million dead babies have been destroyed during his presidency.... and it appears he wants to give my federal tax money not to stopping the murder of innocents, but instead to the tree worshippers and toad lickers so they can save their god, the spotted owl...
Faith based initiatives... my question is "what is the meaning of faith" with George Bush? Since Islam is peace, in his twisted reasoning... it takes very little of a leap to realize he has NO CLUE as to what the American people believe is an actual "faith" versus a "cult".
in his mind, all religions are created equal... and I don't believe they are.
This ain't typical liberals... it's typical compromise of the truth, for political purposes, by our very own very confused president. Nixon said run to the right, govern towards the center... bush ran to the right, buit is governing left of center. this news is appalling to me. Bush I am afraid is not one with us regarding much of anything conservative... I have seen more disturbing "true colors" this past week than I saw in Clinton over any single year... But then again, I knew what clintong was going in, Bush had me somewhat fooled. watch him now... over the next few days he will say or do something that will sound really conservative, to try and change perceptions... like a chameleon... We will probably double our bombing runs in southern Iraq... or announce ever larger troop placements overseas.
Suddenly, I don't feel so good about our efforts at the Capitol in the winter of 2000 in the biggest demonstration there since the Vietnam War! I'm still glad we helped keep Kazinsky/Gore out of the Whitehouse, but dear Lord! What's up with this garbage?
This is impossible for me to stomach!!! This has GOT TO STOP!!! I will not support this administration in THIS!!!
It seems we need new posting rules here. ;-)
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