Religious relief groups hope for windfall

Where the government stumbled, churches rushed in.

That’s the message religious disaster relief groups already are bringing to Capitol Hill, hoping the dramatic example of how they sped aid to Hurricane Katrina survivors along the Gulf Coast will build momentum for President Bush’s drive to expand federal funding for faith-based groups.

“There’s always an emotional sensitivity in times of crisis. If that’s what it takes to get it passed, so be it,” said Major General George Hood, a top official with the Salvation Army, a lead agency in Katrina relief.

Critics are alarmed by this latest push, saying the work of churches following the tragedy – while heroic – does not resolve the complex constitutional questions surrounding Bush’s faith-based proposals. But religious leaders contend that with such overwhelming need, lawmakers must act quickly.

Bob Reccord, who is coordinating the massive relief operation for the Southern Baptist Convention, plans to lobby federal lawmakers and last week testified with Hood before a Senate subcommittee on behalf of the CARE Act. The legislation would provide tax breaks and other incentives to Americans making charitable donations, and it is part of a broader campaign to ease restrictions on federal grants for social service providers with a religious mission.

Reccord and Hood told lawmakers about volunteers who put themselves at risk along the Gulf Coast to save others and about church members serving millions of meals to evacuees. Except for a few government supplies, the costs were covered by private donations.

Other religious leaders deeply involved in the relief effort say barriers to federal funding are hurting the most vulnerable storm victims.

“If the president wants to really put his money where his mouth is on the faith-based initiative, now is the time,” said the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the “The Purpose Driven Life.” “Long after the Red Cross pulls out and FEMA pulls out, the churches are still going to be there.”

Religious relief groups plan to compare their flexibility to the bureaucracy that many have blamed for the government’s sluggish response. Reccord, who is overseeing the work of 5,000 Southern Baptist volunteers, called his operation a “speedboat” to the government’s “battleship.” Reccord and others also have suggested that their volunteers are more dedicated than some government workers, because they are motivated by a deep faith.

“For people who are employed with disaster relief, it is to some degree a job,” Reccord said. “For volunteer faith-based people, it is a passion and a sense of calling.”

Opponents, however, say it would be a mistake to set policy based on the Katrina response.

They contend secular relief groups also have been key contributors to relief efforts, as have some arms of government, such as the Coast Guard, whose members spent days under dangerous conditions plucking hundreds of New Orleans residents off the roofs of flooded homes.

James Dunn, who served in Washington, D.C., for more than two decades with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, which works to protect the separation of church and state, said that among the unresolved constitutional issues is Bush’s desire to allow church groups to consider religion in hiring, even if they receive federal grants.

Critics say that’s discrimination.

“I think what’s happening is they’re trying to dismantle the civil rights program without saying it,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., a member of the House Judiciary Committee.