that the US must maintain, in Jefferson's terms, "a wall of separation between church and state. " Bush's recently resurrrected call for "faith-based initiatives" is nothing more than a blatant attempt to tear down that wall.

by doling billions of tax dollars to religious organizations for charitable activities he claims he is "just ending the welfare state's history of descrimination against faith-based groups. Duhbya states that "government policy can't put hope in peoples hears or a sense of purpose in their lives."

He goes on to prove this is my state by privatizing probation services. After disbanding the state agency he funded the Salvation Army-a registered church, and turned over all non-felony supervision to them. They do all their hiring on the dictates of their religious requirements. The probationers are forced, under threat of re-incarceration, to pay the Salvation Army a monthly fee for their supervision. This is only one example. Children's services, adoption, foster care, protective services are further illustrations.

Clearly Bush believes there are higher priorilties than upholding the Constitution and protecting individual rights. Our Founding Fathers estavblished a government devoted soley to the protection of individual freedom, in which religion was relegated to a private matter where it should be. You will note that the word "God" is not mention even once in our Constitution.

For Bush to be moounting his unprecedented attack on secular government, and the very instant that America is under attack by religious terrorists that are supported by religious government regimes--is morally obscene.

If you value liberty you must repudiate these faith-based intiiatives and help re-build the wall Mr. Jefferson described between church and state.

Publius