Bush wanted to fund social services whose key ingredient is faith, either in the program itself or as part of the treatment. Congress never signed off. So federal officials reached out to church groups and explained how to apply and win federal funding by keeping their services “faith neutral” or free of proselytizing.<\/p>\n
And that’s the hitch. If a program promotes one faith to its clients, the government cannot fund it given the First Amendment ban on congressional “establishment of religion.” But if such a program sheds its religious character to qualify for public money, how important was that faith in the first place?<\/p>\n
There is a solution. Addiction and mental-health programs can assess new clients for their spiritual and religious histories and interests and then tailor treatment accordingly. Courts have ruled that so long as a program offers a client “a genuinely independent choice,” religious freedom is preserved. In March, the federal Bureau of Prisons recognized this distinction when it revised a proposal for private operators of “life skills” training programs. Those that offer a religious track would now have to provide a secular one as well.<\/p>\n