A question for candidates.

As I begin to receive campaign literature (and requests for money!) from the many candidates running for president in 2008, I have one question for them--one I almost never hear asked in television interviews--what about the so-called faith-based initiatives?

So I have crafted a letter to insert in every postage-paid envelope they send me. Readers who would like a copy of this may contact [e-mail], or create their own. Hopefully, if enough people ask this question, some candidates may promise to end the program.

I've also made up labels to use to seal that letter and any others where it's appropriate. The label, on a bright yellow background, reads: [Election 2008/Which presidential candidate will abolish the unconstitutional Faith-based Initiative?] The letter reads:

Dear Candidate:

I have a question for you: Will you abolish President Bush's faith-based initiative and restore this country's dedication to the separation of church and state?

Perhaps you weren't paying attention in 2001 when President Bush devised this method of giving religious groups access to the public purse. He created various faith-based offices at federal agencies while the White House sponsored regional conferences around the country urging religious groups to apply for tax aid. Never approved by Congress, the faith-based initiative was put into place primarily through executive orders issued by the President himself, and through regulatory changes affecting various cabinet-level departments and lower federal offices. This made an end-run around the First Amendment, which decrees that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

In 1968, in Flast v Cohen, the high court asserted: "Our history vividly illustrates that one of the specific evils feared by those who drafted the Establishment Clause ... was that the taxing and spending power would be used to favor one religion over another or to support religion in general."

One publicly funded faith-based program is a perfect example of this. Chuck Colson's prison program, called InnerChange, forces inmates to become evangelical Christians as the price of receiving rehabilitation, better treatment while in prison and the prospect of an earlier release. According to a lawsuit against it won by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the program amounts to publicly funded religious indoctrination and denigrates other faiths. Non-religious persons were often characterized by InnerChange staff as "unsaved," "lost," "pagan" those "who served the flesh," "of Satan" "sinful" and "of darkness." Roman Catholic, Muslim and Native American faiths were likewise denigrated by program staff. Indeed, at trial, one inmate testified that an InnerChange counselor compared the Pope to Hitler.

So, dear Candidate, do you plan to continue this violation of our Founders intent? Or will you re-establish this nation's precious principle of separating church and state?

Some political consultants are advising candidates not to use the term "separation of church and state," because it raises red flags with people of faith. This bows to the demands of religious leaders who have attacked the separation principle, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey named Dobson as "an example of somebody who never understood what they meant by separation of church and state."

Simply put, taxpayers' money should never be used to advance religious ideas. Thomas Jefferson explained it well: "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."

Our nation has reached a crossroads. The election of 2008 will determine if our country returns to this basic value. Can you lead us there?

PLEASE REPLY TO: (Your name and address here)

--End of Letter-

Janet Brazill

Colorado Springs, Colo.