> > The Bush solution is to give the churches government money to run
>> their "moral" church-based welfare services as he cuts back
>> traditional gov't services.
>> Marta
>
>However, Mark Chaves' study of religious congregations shows that it is
>liberal and progressive congregations, not the conservative ones that are
>more likely to pursue government funding of their programs.
>http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=ByAuthor&NavMenuID=63&template=/Ta
>ggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=6446
Esther Kaplan also writes in her book, With God On Their Side, that the Xian right doesn't care whether their services work - feed the hungry, prevent unwanted pregnancy. They're just interested in harvesting souls. Amazingly, even though the data show that abstinence programs don't work, they pursue them anyway, because they're the godly thing to do. Esther talked to women whose daughters got pregnant despite the abstinence program, and they all said they would do it again anyway. To bend to data or actual experience would be too reality-based.
Doug