Frank Page Votes Against Faith-based Accountability

Frank Page, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, voted against a requirement that would have made faith-based organizations accountable for the way they spend money they receive from the federal government.

A report on the White House website about votes related to the Non-Consensus Reform Report produced by Obama's 25 member Advisory Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Parnerships reveals that Frank Page voted against the government requiring houses of worship to form separate corporations to receive direct federal social service funds.

Those who favor the requirement say "the government should require houses of worship that wish to receive direct federal social service funds to establish separate corporations as a necessary means for achieving church-state separation and protecting religious autonomy, while also urging states to reduce any unnecessary administrative costs and burdens associated with attaining this status."

Frank Page and those who oppose the requirement say "the government should not require separate incorporation, because it is not always the best means to achieve these goals, and because it may be prohibitively costly and onerous, particularly for smaller organizations, resulting in the disruption and deterrence of effective and constitutionally permissible relationships."

Barry Lynn voiced his frustration with Page and other members of the Advisory Council who voted against this requirement saying,

I argued that all public funds that go to a house of worship to operate social services should be handled by a separately incorporated nonprofit -- or at least be kept in a separate bank account so we can keep track of how the money is spent. A 2006 report by the General Accounting Office examined faith-based offices in several federal agencies and found a lack of oversight of these programs. . . .

Conservative religious representatives on the Council disagreed. They want sectarian groups to have access to plenty of government money with very little (if any) meaningful accountability. That's the status quo; they like it.

Shame on Frank Page. If the system the Bush administration devised remains in place, Frank Page, more than any other Baptist in America, deserves the blame for endorsing a system that will corrupt America's churches and allow politicians to use tax dollars for political patronage of favored religious leaders.

Click here for a podcast (33MB Mp3) of my 2-7-10 "Religious Talk" radio program which was devoted to a critique of the federal faith-based program under President Obama.