Advocate religion and youth editor

Louisiana voters are split on whether they favor church-based groups receiving tax dollars to provide social services, according to a recent poll.

Participants in The Advocate's year-end poll were asked: "Do you favor or oppose church-based groups receiving tax dollars to provide social services?"

Forty-nine percent of the participants said they "favor" tax dollars to church-based groups, while 40 percent said they "oppose," 5 percent said "it depends" and 6 percent said they did not know or refused to answer.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points on the full 750-person sample. The error factor increases for results from segments of the poll.

White respondents are almost evenly divided on the question; 45 percent favor and 42 percent oppose.

Black respondents are more in favor: 60 percent said they favor tax dollars going to church-based groups and 34 percent said they oppose it.

Self-described fundamentalist Christians are most likely to support the use of tax money for social service programs in churches. Seventy percent of the fundamentalist respondents said they favor it.

Forty-eight percent of the Roman Catholics interviewed said they favor tax dollars to church-based groups. Also favoring the effort are 53 percent of the Baptists, 58 percent of the Pentecostals and 49 percent of the nondenominational adherents.

Sixty-five percent of those who claim no religion said they oppose tax money to church-based groups.

In the 2003 year-end poll, 46 percent of the respondents said they favor tax dollars to church-based groups and 43 percent said they oppose it. The results from the 2003 and 2004 polls are essentially the same because the differences are within the margin of error, said pollster Ed Renwick.

Church-based organizations have received tax dollars for social services for years. However, prior to 2003 the government required religious groups to set up independent secular organizations to receive federal dollars. President Bush changed that through executive order.

Supporters of faith-based initiatives say churches are well suited to offer social services because they know their communities and have existing infrastructures.

Opponents say the effort blurs the church-state line because the government should not fund the advancement of faith.

In Louisiana, Gov. Kathleen Blanco has created an Office of Faith-Based Initiatives housed at the State Capitol.

A full-time coordinator has not been named, but the office is working to let faith-based groups with programs know the office exists and to provide information about agencies, grants and technical assistance, said Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher.

The office was created to enhance the work of faith-based groups by creating partnerships between state agencies and the programs, Bottcher said. "Navigating a state agency can be very difficult," Bottcher said.

Faith-based programs are looking for best practices and technical support, which the state can offer, she said.

In Baton Rouge, the faith-based program Set Free Indeed is an example of a state and faith-based program partnership.

The program continues to attract national attention, beginning when Bush invited the founder, Tonja Myles, to the 2003 State of the Union address. Myles said she will appear in an upcoming segment of the national news show "Religion & News Ethics Weekly."

Set Free Indeed is a Bible-based 12-step program founded by Myles and her husband, Darren, at The Healing Place Church. It continues as a support group.

A related outpatient clinic, Free Indeed, opened in the fall. It was founded by Myles and funded by the state from a $22 million federal grant that the state Department of Health and Hospitals received to treat substance abuse. The clinic can see 200 clients a day, Myles said.

"We have church, and we talk about getting saved, but we meet the same guidelines as a secular clinic," Myles said. "We don't force people to walk through the doors. They know what it is."

Myles also has a contract with the state Office for Addictive Disorders in DHH where she earns $40,000 a year as a liaison between churches and the state. She completes a 10-page assessment on programs, talks about setting up boards, accounting, tax status and more.

The outpatient clinic is in the Center of Hope, donated by Bethany World Prayer Center, near Interstate 10 and Siegen Lane. The center will also be a training site for faith-based workers.

Myles says she does not see a problem with separation of church and state because the center is about helping the individual and not proselytizing.

Joe Cook, executive director of ACLU of Louisiana, said he has seen little to no oversight of these faith-based programs to ensure they are not violating the law.

"That's not to say all programs related to a church are violating the law, but without oversight the opportunity is there," Cook said.

Cook said the ACLU, opposes the use of tax dollars in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment Establishment Clause. The Establishment Clause creates the wall between church and state.

The best answer is to abide by what the founders intended, to keep government out of religion, he said.

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