In Theory:

President Bush noted on June 26 at the national conference of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that his first executive order was to establish that office. The White House program has improved relationships between the federal government and religious charities. But many people say there should be a church-state separation and that the program should be shut down. Should this program be kept by the next president?

No, it shouldn’t. I know that it sounds harmless and maybe even good that government and faith-based charities work together. But the problem has to do with who controls the purse strings, and if you have a born-again Christian running the government office that hands out the dough, chances are that that person will be more likely to give government funds to a charity whose views most closely resemble the views of the person who hands out the checks.

Some charities, such as Planned Parenthood, for example, have gotten short shrift from the White House during this administration because on some occasions Planned Parenthood would support a woman having an abortion.

The current crowd in the White House despises abortion for any reason, even though Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land. So guess what: If a charity supports the possibility of an abortion, no matter how rare, the religious folk in the White House won’t give that charity a dime.

So the program that was instituted by the current administration should not be continued when the next one takes over.

The last time I looked, we had separation of church and state in this country, but in my opinion the current White House Office of Faith-based Charities crosses the line and breaks down that wall of separation.

THE REV. C. L. “SKIP” LINDEMAN

La Cañada Congregational Church

Have you heard about the government worker that was granted three wishes by a genie who popped out of an office desk? The man proceeded to wish for a south sea island banquet. Then he wished to be fed by beautiful island women. Finally he wished that he would never have to work again, so the genie poofed him back to his government office.

Who would rather wait for government to work its bureaucracy forming uninspired replacement institutions rather than simply aiding current faith groups already providing necessary and beneficial services free of charge?