Since 1978, the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has tried to draw a very strict line between church and state. The most recent incarnation of that pursuit has come in the form of preventing federal dollars from falling into the hands of faith-based initiatives.
However, such an endeavor has not been easy and the group only recently won the right to sue against the creation of the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, arguing that its creation violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Still, some argue their commitment to strict separation may hurt more than it helps when worthy faith-based initiatives are harmed or eliminated.
What is the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives?
On January 29, 2001, President George W. Bush created the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (FBCI) through executive order. Its purpose is to allow for faith-based groups to be on equal footing with other non-religious social programs when receiving federal funding by providing information and support to faith-based groups looking for a way to establish their respective programs.
The creation of FBCI in 2001 followed the president's promise of "compassionate conservatism" in the 2000 presidential race. However, the office does not actually allot funding to various religious organizations. Rather, it strives to allow those organizations to compete for funding on an equal level with other social programs.
FFRF on a mission
While FFRF has been establishing legal victory after legal victory across the country, their efforts have all been aimed toward one larger effort. In June 2004, FFRF filed suit against the federal government challenging that the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives was illegal and clearly violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
However, FFRF hit a roadblock immediately on Nov. 12, 2004 when U.S. District Court Judge John C. Shabaz ruled that FFRF did not have standing to challenge executive branch officials.
An FFRF release claimed Shabaz turned the challenge down because taxpayers do not have standing to challenge executive branch officials who engage in constitutionally suspect activities funded by general Congressional budget appropriations.
That decision was overturned in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit Jan. 13 in a 2-1 vote, giving FFRF the right to pursue their lawsuit.
"Getting through this legal hurdle was the biggest challenge," said FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor. "If you don't have standing, you can't stay in court; it was an important precedent for us."
In addition, the foundation is the first and only challenge to the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.
"This is a more centralized way to get at the problem, so we think it's the fastest way to get at the problem legally," Gaylor said. "When the courts are looking and scrutinizing faith-based groups and are generally deciding [in] our favor or [if] the government is simply capitulating, it pays to sue, it pays to complain."
In many cases, FFRF pays large amounts to attack religious groups — including their case against the federal government, where no court fees will be returned to them.
"If they had not taken that case, it would've created terrible precedent," Gaylor said.
However, Gaylor alleges there is no shortage of cases, and she hopes other groups will begin to challenge federal money that finds its way into faith-based organizations.
"Since we filed that case three years ago, a great deal of money has been spent [on faith-based initiatives]," Gaylor said. "You could take a lawsuit everyday on this."
Still, many question whether FFRF's lawsuits are overly aggressive.
University of Wisconsin junior Tony Koffman received money from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to help pay for college.
"It's a nice way to help me become less reliant or dependent on others to finance my college education," Koffman said.
Koffman, who had trouble receiving financial aid, said the annual $1,000 he receives goes towards college tuition.
"It was very hard for me to get scholarships," Koffman said. "There are some of us who aren't getting anything from our parents, and they still don't give [financial aid] to you because your parents [have a higher income]."
Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, disapproves of FFRF's lawsuits because faith-based initiatives have helped the lives of Wisconsin prisoners.
"These grants have helped real people that are currently incarcerated improve their lives and to become more productive members of society," Suder said. "Not only is the Freedom From Common Sense Foundation trying to prevent people in prison from being helped, but they're also costing taxpayer money by fighting a common sense initiative."
If anything, Suder argued, Wisconsin needs more faith-based initiatives in its prisons.
"The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a fringe group that is ultimately going to cost taxpayer money through lawsuits like this," Suder said. "They're just preventing the government from trying to get money to help people in prison; it's absurd."
However, FFRF co-founder Dan Barker said such lawsuits should be pursued regardless of what they might affect, since religious groups promote an agenda.
"With public money we should, there must be a strict separation," Barker said. "We're not saying let's not help the world … let's not do it through groups whose predominant mission is religious."
Nonetheless, the issue of how church and state are to remain separate has always been an issue of great contention, and the fine line that exists between the two is not easy to discern.
UW political science professor Donald Downs said in recent years the Supreme Court has allowed more government benefits to religious institutions as long as the programs they support are secular and have secular effects. Vouchers, for example, are used in religious schools.
"But the devil is in the details," Downs said in an e-mail. "If the benefit is too centered on religion or is used in a religious way, then a line is crossed. The faith-based initiative is not as straight forward as programs such as vouchers, so there is a possibility that it will be struck down … I don't see this case as easy, either way."
FFRF on a roll
Of the past five faith-based cases FFRF has taken up, four have been decided in FFRF's favor. The strong track record, FFRF hopes, will provide for the legal background necessary to take down Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
In 2002, FFRF won its first case against Faith Works, a Milwaukee-based organization aimed at bringing drug addicts off the streets through faith-oriented service programs. FFRF halted nearly two thirds of the group's funding, which had come from public taxpayer sources with $600,000 dollars garnered through then-governor Tommy Thompson's discretionary funds from the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block grant.
"It is not the business of 'We the People' to be proselytizing and recruiting members for churches," said then-FFRF president Anne Gaylor, in a statement. "When you read Faith Works' statement of purpose, you can see that it's all about religion."
In October 2004, FFRF won their next case against the Montana Office of Rural Health. The group had given more than $1 million in tax money to the Montana Faith Health Cooperative. Composed of over a dozen different health and faith-based organizations, the group aimed to join health practices with faith practices. FFRF began a similar case in March 2005 against the Minnesota Faith Health Consortium, a group run by the University of Minnesota and several other organizations.
In 2005, FFRF won a crucial victory against MentorKids USA, a group receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The group, based in Phoenix, Ariz., was poised to receive $225,000 from the federal government between 2003 and 2006. According to the group's website, "Our mission is to locate, train and empower mentors to be the presence of Christ to kids facing tough life challenges through one-to-one relationships."
The group, according to MentorKids USA mentor coordinator Kirk Stevens, matches mentors with at-risk youth.
"All of our mentors come to us through churches," Stephens said. "The mentors and mentees get together once a week and do fun things, build a relationship. We all have a common faith and we ask [mentors] to bring everything that they are; we are not coercive in any way and the mentees do not have to be Christian in any way."
