Livin' On A Prayer

While I'm throwing hate on anything that smells like church-state comingling, it's worth noting a story in today's Washington Post on faith-based initatives that -- once again -- don't make a lick of sense.

The Post reports: President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security yesterday to create a center for faith-based and community initiatives within 45 days to eliminate regulatory, contracting and programmatic barriers to providing federal funds to religious groups to deliver social services, the White House announced last night ... Bush also called on the department by September "to identify all existing barriers ... that unlawfully discriminate against, or otherwise discourage or disadvantage the participation" of such groups in federal programs.

It's simply absurd that federal Homeland Security dollars would be used to subsidize religious groups. I know some churches do a lot of good in the community, but (not unlike the voucher concept) the policy is poor. These neighborhood religious groups historically do not coordinate well with FEMA and other federal political agencies. Isn't the better solution having local political experts -- in cities, counties and local emergency agencies -- better trained and more effectively relied on?