Federal Grants for Faith Based Organizations

There has been an argument of whether it is justified for the government to give out faith based free government grants. The major argument is that religion and the government should be completely left separate and that if the government gives out grants to Christians, it is being prejudice against organizations or individuals who do not have Christian believes. They argue that America is a free country after all, and people should be able to worship whoever or whatever they want and only if they choose to. While I see where these people are coming from, I entirely disagree.
Although I do admit that I am partially biased due to the fact that my religion is probably the most defining element in my life and I am clearly Christian, I also have a factual based argument against this belief as well. The reason why the government gives out faith based free government grants is because these religious organizations spend this money on helping people. Religious organizations help alcoholics, homeless people, hungry people, children who need clothing and food etc. In a 2006 press conference Bush comments , “If you’re addicted to alcohol, and if a faith program is able to get you off alcohol,” the president told leaders of religious charities on Thursday, “we ought to say Hallelujah and thanks at the federal level.”
I couldn’t agree more. There is nothing prejudice about trying to help Americans who are facing problems. If an atheist wanted to setup an organization to help the homeless, or to help children in need he/she too would be able to get financial assistance from the government.
President Bush goes on his press conference to give an example of how a religious organization that helps the poor get home loans. Before qualifying for a government grant they were only able to help about one tenth of the people they are able to help now. She is now serving over 10,000 people. Not only is this amazing because it helps people and helps build up our social services department but it also helps out the economy as well. The more people we can get into houses, the more taxes are being paid and the better our economy gets.
This is just one example of the thousands of things that religious organizations do using free government grant money. I know it may be a stretch, but when people are so hyper-sensitive about the government being prejudice towards them they fail to see the big picture. I’m pretty sure if you asked the same people who are opposed to the government giving out faith based grants if they are also opposed to helping the homeless, feeding hungry children, etc. they would most certainly say no. It is my personal belief that people need to educate themselves with the entire situation before jumping to rash conclusions that the government is not separating church and state, or that the government is being prejudice towards them.