ucked away in the current federal budget for the Department of Health and Human Services is a new grant program that would provide money only to faith-based groups operating AIDS and drug prevention outreaches.

   Published reports on the $4 million subsidy note that it was in place prior to President Bush taking office last January, and specifies that only applicants which are "faith-based organization" or are sponsored by churches and other religious groups are eligible. Participation by churches and other sectarian organizations, however, has become a significant component of the Bush overhaul of the welfare system. In creating the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives last January, Mr. Bush also ordered five major government agencies, including the HHS, to establish departments and reach out to churches and other religious groups that were involved in social services.

   In March, the new HHS Secretary, former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, appointed Elizabeth Seale as the director of the department's new faith-based division. Seale had formerly been vice-chair of the board of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.

   According to Associated Press, this is the first HHS granting program aimed exclusively at religious organizations. Mark Weber, a spokesman for the department's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said that the money is being made available to churches because officials think this is the best way to reach at-risk teens.

   "Faith-based organizations have access to the young people we are trying to reach," Weber told reporters. He also said that the legality of the granting program had "absolutely" been examined. "Before we put anything out on the street like this, we make sure we've crossed our t's and dotted our i's," Weber said. "We've very aware of what's constitutional and what's not constitutional."

   The HHS grants are the latest in an effort to expand the role of religious groups in operating social welfare services. Provisions to the 1996 welfare reform act made it easier for faith-based organizations to compete in soliciting government funding in order to administer a range of community outreaches, everything from job training to drug and alcohol rehab, all the while retaining their discreet religious coloration and character. Critics have warned, though, that the policy violates the separation of church and state, and leads to public funding of religion-based proselytizing . While a candidate for President, Mr. Bush pledged to expand the partnership between government and organized religion, and establish a special federal agency to coordinate funding and activities. One of his first acts upon entering office was to issue two controversial Executive Orders, one establishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the other ordering major government agencies to set up their own liaison departments with religious service providers.

   Social and religious conservatives have generally supported the Bush initiative,although some have expressed concerns that government funding may come with regulatory strings attached, and possibly force churches and other houses of worship to open their financial records to further scrutiny. Others, such as televangelist Jerry Falwell, have complained that funding should not be available for newer religious sects or non-Christian denominational groups affiliated with Islam. Hoping to stem the onslaught of criticism, a coalition of religious and political conservatives recently rallied around the Bush initiative, but said that funding should be provided to all sectarian groups and warned of "preferences between religious and nonreligious providers."

   Selling the faith-based initiative as a government entitlement being made available to all religious comers, and not somehow designed to promote religious belief at the expense of secular outreaches still remains a daunting challenge, though, for the government. Revelations that departmental programs are creating fiscal "carve-outs" for religious groups seems to contradict President Bush's repetitive assertion that the White House initiative is not meant to "promote religion" but instead meet social needs.

   Meanwhile, political and legal opposition continues against the plan to divert public money to faith-based social programs. Yesterday, the American Jewish Congress announced that it is seeking a permanent injunction against a state-funded job training program in California that is open only to religion affiliated agencies. The suit, AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS v. MICHAEL BERNICK ET. AL. seeks to challenge a program operated by the California Department of Employment Development through an "Assistance to Needy Families Program." According to an AJC press release, the case is slated to be heard in the Superior Court, County of San Francisco on June 19.

   AJC is asking judicial relief in the form of a declaration that "the eligibility limitation to faith-based providers both in the proposal and in the budget item are unconstitutional."

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