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Faith-Based Solutions Not Dead Yet

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2007

The lone Democrat in the White House did not have an easy time as the president's 'faith czar,' back in 2001. John DiIulio was appalled by the lack of a serious 'policy apparatus.' He later complained that the White House was run by 'Mayberry Machiavellis' who sacrificed everything for political gain. He quit after only seven months.

Yet today, happily ensconced in the University of Pennsylvania, DiIulio has lost none of his enthusiasm for faith-based solutions to America's social problems.

He can talk eloquently for hours on the case for extending a helping hand to religious organizations. Particularly exciting, for him, is the idea that a Democratic administration could reinvigorate his faith-based policies and return them to their bipartisan roots.

DiIulio is the ideal salesman for faith-based social services. He is one of America's leading political scientists - a man who has all the latest data at his fingertips, but who also knows his 'Federalist Papers' and his de Tocqueville.

DiIulio is right that the idea still has a lot of life left in it, for two reasons. First, America has a big problem with what people now call 'social exclusion.' Every great city has homeless people on the streets. Over half of black males in the inner cities drop out of school without graduating. Some 2 million children have a parent in prison.

Second, 'people of faith' do a disproportionate share of the heavy lifting when it comes to dealing with exclusion. These are the people who man the soup kitchens and look after prisoners' children. They are particularly important in the inner-city minority communities that are most ravaged by poverty and crime. Over a third of the institutions that provide social welfare in big cities are religious.

DiIulio argues vigorously that there is no constitutional problem with giving public money to religious organizations - provided the rules are written tightly and monitored carefully.

The founding fathers did not intend to banish religion from the public square any more than they intended to create a Christian nation. And much of America's government work is currently subcontracted to 'proxy institutions.' If religious proxy institutions can do the job effectively, then there is no reason to discriminate against them.

The origins of the faith-based idea were bipartisan. Andrew Cuomo, Bill Clinton's second secretary of housing, established the first 'faith center' in the federal government. DiIulio advised both Al Gore and Bush.

Democrats currently have a better chance of winning over disillusioned evangelicals than they have had for many years. But there is an element of common sense too. Americans are increasingly worried about poverty, but are skeptical about government bureaucracies.

Faith-based institutions appear to offer a solution to the conundrum. DiIulio shows no desire to return to Washington. But DiIulionism may return there nonetheless.

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