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(published in the Brenham Banner Press in July 2000)

Faith-based programs fill social service needs

(The following OpEd was written by Dr. Kurt Senske regarding President Bush's faith-based initiative.)

On Monday two organizations sued the Texas Department of Human Services claiming that a job training program in Washington County violated separation of church and state. (Brenham Banner-Press, July 26, 2000) Representatives of the groups who filed the suit further say they want the courts to bar similar arrangements with other church organizations.

Organizations like Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and the Jewish Federations have partnered for years with the government to provide services to abused and unwanted children, frail elderly, the unemployed and individuals suffering from a myriad of addictions. If such partnerships were banned, what would become of the children in Presbyterian, Baptist and Lutheran children’s homes? Or elderly in nursing homes operated by Methodists, Catholics and Jews? And what of those who are addicted or unemployed and are nurtured by interfaith and ecumenical ministries?

Several years ago, concerns about separation of church and state made being a faith-based organization a liability. In the zealous effort to make sure that everyone’s rights were protected and that no one was offended by having to listen to a prayer, faith-based organizations were shut out from government contracts.

Years of experience and successful programs meant nothing. Social service contracts were awarded to individuals and for-profit corporations whose motivation was the profit margin, not the margin of difference made in the lives of the needy.

Is it any wonder that social programs have failed in the last couple of decades? Real transformation occurs when a client is cared for by a social worker or counselor who feels compelled to help others, not improve the return for investors.

Certainly we should be concerned about forcing religion upon those who do not want it. At Lutheran Social Services of the South, a client’s religious affiliation (or lack) is not a factor in deciding whether we help that person. There are no signs on the doors of our foster homes, nursing homes or programs that serve welfare clients that say "Lutherans (or Christians) only."

We are clearly and proudly a Christian organization with a mission to help children, elderly and poor. We also know it is ineffective to force religion upon those who do not want it. To protect clients from unwanted religious intrusion, government rules and regulations clearly spell out exactly what we can and cannot do.

With nearly 600 children in our foster care and residential treatment programs, we are the largest provider of services to abused and neglected children in the state of Texas. Every child in our residential programs is offered a Bible when he or she is admitted -- but no child is required to take it or read it. At our four residential treatment centers we offer regular chapel services and Bible studies -- but no child is forced to attend. If a child asks for religious counseling in a different denomination or faith, we try to accommodate the request. No tax dollars fund any of these efforts.

We offer these programs because we know that religion provides a structure for those whose lives are in chaos. We know that religion provides hope, where there has only been despair. We know that lasting change is only possible when a spiritual component is present.

Isn’t lasting change the point of our social welfare programs?

Lutheran Social Services of the South is the social service arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. LSS serves children, elderly and poor in Texas and Louisiana regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, gender or age. Its ministry includes children’s residential treatment centers, therapeutic foster care, adoption, adult day care, health care and retirement centers, disaster response and emergency assistance.

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