Faith Without Works

Amy Sullivan has an in-depth look at Bush's historic move towards "faith-based funding" initiatives and their less than impressive results:

"More than with any other piece of his domestic policy agenda, Bush has linked himself personally to the faith-based initiative. During a campaign stop in March, he told a crowd of religious leaders that he--and he alone--was responsible for the changes that have taken place. 'Congress wouldn't act,' Bush said, 'so I signed an executive order--that means I did it on my own.'

And so he did. Bush alone is responsible for supporting the distribution of taxpayer dollars without requiring proof that the funding produces results, for establishing a new government bureaucracy to give special help to a 'discriminated' community that has always been on equal footing with everyone else, and for encouraging religious organizations to rely on government funding instead of encouraging private donations. It turns out that a 'compassionate conservative' is a different kind of Republican after all. Just not the kind we expected."