Bill Would Permit HeadStart Religious Discrimination

by William Fisher

(IPS) NEW YORK -- Advocates for separation of church and state took a major hit Sept. 22 as the House of Representatives voted to allow faith-based groups to discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring personnel for the Head Start education program.

The 220-196 vote on an amendment to the 40-year-old program was largely along party lines.

Aimed at preparing academically disadvantaged youngsters and their families to enter school, Head Start is a federally funded pre-school program that operates nationwide. Although sometimes sponsored by religious groups, it is a secular program open to children of all faith backgrounds.

Under the amendment, religious groups that sponsor Head Start programs would be able to restrict their hiring to members of their own faith. This would principally affect Head Start teachers, administrators, parent volunteers and support personnel.

The original Head Start Act contained specific protections for teachers, staff and volunteers against employment discrimination. Yesterday's amendment would repeal these protections.

The amendment was introduced by first-term Republican Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., a retired heart surgeon. Boustany made history in 2004 when he became the first Republican to win Louisiana's 7th Congressional District seat.

The vote came over the objections of more than 100 religious, education, civil rights, civil liberties and social service providers, and the National Head Start Association, representing more than a million children, 200,000 staff and 2,700 Head Start programs in the United States.

On the other side of the debate was a large group of conservative and religious organizations, including the Heritage Foundation, James Dobson's Focus on the Family, and many others sympathetic to the religious right.

"The right of faith-based groups to take religious beliefs into account in their hiring practices is fundamental to religious liberty and should be protected when a faith-based group works with the government to provide social services through programs like Head Start," Heritage Foundation researchers Grace Smith and Jonathan Butcher wrote Thursday.

But the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group that opposes federal funding for faith-based organizations, called the vote "shameful."

"Publicly funded programs ought to hire the best qualified applicant. I am outraged that House members have inserted religious discrimination into a program like Head Start," he said.

"Since Head Start does not teach religion, there is no need for religious groups to engage in discriminatory hiring practices. Head Start staff," he said, "should be chosen on their ability to work successfully with disadvantaged children."

Terri Ann Schroeder, a senior lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told IPS, "Head Start's current civil liberties provisions work -- protecting participants from religious discrimination, while allowing faith-based groups to contribute to the Head Start program. Repealing these provisions is a significant step backwards for civil liberties, potentially depriving children of quality educators on a solely religious basis."

She added, "Religious discrimination has no place in America, and the Supreme Court has agreed. Congress must keep these civil rights protections in place."

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the House Education Committee, rejected appeals to withdraw the religion-based amendment. Without a change in the law, Boehner said, "Faith-based organizations are forced to relinquish their protected rights to hire individuals who share their beliefs."

The Rev. Tim Simpson of The Christian Alliance takes issue with this viewpoint. He told IPS, "The right has tried to kill Head Start for years. When they failed at that, they did the next best thing, which is to turn the program into pork to reward their religious followers.

"Instead of assuring that America's children get the best program possible, this legislation simply assures America's right-wing religious institutions a place at the public trough where they can feed, while the taxpayer pays for them to promote their beliefs, in contravention of the Constitutional protections against the government's establishment of religion."

Since President Bush launched his Faith-Based Initiative shortly after taking office in 2001, there have been numerous efforts in Congress to permit taxpayer funds to be used to finance church-related social and educational programs. These have usually been passed by the House of Representatives but rejected by the Senate.

As a result, Bush has had to resort to using executive orders rather than legislation to initiate faith-based grant programs in various federal agencies.

The House version of the Head Start reauthorization will now have to be reconciled with Senate legislation, which does not contain the faith-based employment provisions.

Opponents of the measure say they are confident the Senate will not allow the House language concerning religion to survive the House-Senate conference committee.

Head Start's non-discrimination requirements were signed into law by President Nixon in 1972 and renewed by President Reagan. Many religiously affiliated groups participate in Head Start programs and comply with the same civil rights provisions as their secular counterparts.

The program has not been without other non-religious controversies. For example, educators and child development authorities remain divided about its effectiveness, pointing to a continuing knowledge gap between poor children who have participated in Head Start and non-disadvantaged children who have not.