"If a congregation wants to repair their church, they are more than welcome to do it with their own money, but not mine!" says American Atheists Maryland State Director David Condo

he nation's oldest Roman Catholic cathedral is applying for up to $4 million in government grants to refurbish its facilities in time to celebrate its 2006 bicentennial.

   The Baltimore Basilica is spending $25 million to repair the historic landmark which was conceived by Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), noted engineer and architect who was appointed by Thomas Jefferson as a surveyor of public buildings. Latrobe went on to design the south wing of the original federal Capitol, remodeled the White House, and rebuilt the Capitol structure after it was destroyed by the British in 1814.

   The Baltimore church was erected under the aegis of John Carroll (1735-1815), the founder of Georgetown College and later Archbishop of Baltimore.

   But the application for federal and state grants to repair a facility still being used for sectarian religious services is raising concerns among state-church separationists and even religious groups who warn that it sets a dangerous, unconstitutional precedent.

   "No matter what political guise it falls under, any government funding of the activities or buildings of religious organizations corrupts the integrity and independence of both institution," said David Condo, Maryland State Director for American Atheists in a statement to news media. "If a congregation wants to repair their church, they are more than welcome to do it with their own money, but not mine."

   Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists added that the effort by Baltimore Catholic Church officials was a "blatant attempt to use public money to promote and prop-up organized religion.

   "It ignores the Constitution and the very essence of state-church separation. It also means that every Atheists, Freethinker and other nonbeliever in the country is going to be picking up the tab to repair not just the basilica but other 'historic' houses of worship across the country."

   Ironically, the restoration of the basilica is being promoted as both a way of preserving "historic" houses of worship, and recognizing the role which the structure allegedly played as a monument to religious freedom. Maryland was an important player in the development of religious pluralism, starting when Roman Catholics fled nearby colonies and the persecution of the Church of England. But the Baltimore basilica played no role in any of this. The Maryland Constitution of 1776 did, when it stipulated that no individual shall be compelled "to maintain any particular place of worship, or any particular ministry."

   Critics of the disestablishment of religion nevertheless inserted a provision permitting the legislature to "lay a general and equal tax, for the support of the Christian religion." In 1783, the governor promoted a measure "placing every branch of the Christian Church upon the most equal and respectable footing," and the following year another bill proposed taxation to aid all Christian sects, exempting anyone professing to be a "Jew or Mohometan, or (declaring) that he does not believe in Christian religion." Newspapers crusaded against these and similar proposals, warning that they would again lead to the Establishment of religion, and that any compulsory support of churches violated religious freedom.

   The matter was finally settled -- at least for the next two centuries or so -- when the legislature enacted a constitutional amendment that outlawed "an equal or general tax or any other tax ... for the support of any religion."

   Some religious groups are suspicious today of using public money for the restoration of churches, even if they do boast an impressive historical pedigree.

   Providing government funds for renovation "is a way of extending the reach of the federal government into the sanctity of the house of worship," warned Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, President of the Interfaith Alliance.

   "Religion has been best for this nation when religious institutions have ... spoken to the nation as a voice of conscience," Gaddy told the Baltimore Sun newspaper recently. "If you lose that independence, you begin to compromise your integrity."

   But Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives says that the basilica is like many other "treasures" in America which are "in sacred places." Towey argues that President Bush considers any restrictions on the use of funds to rehabilitate architectural or historic places to be a case of discrimination against religion.

   "It's very hard to tell the story of the 18-th and 19th-century America without including places like the basilica," Towey told the Sun.

   The battle over the use of public monies to "restore" or "preserve" houses of worship is spreading throughout the country.

   ¶       At the behest of the White House, federal agencies are re-writing regulations which in the past restricted the use of funds to rehabilitate churches that may have historic or architectural value, especially if they housed active congregations. One potential source of money, for instance, is the "Save America's Treasures" program launched in 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton. Money was made available for a number of projects involving religious sites, such as a $75,000 grant to the preservation of San Esteban del Rey Mission located near Santa Fe, NM.

   ¶       In June, 2003, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton announced sweeping changes in other federal guidelines concerning the repair of "historic" churches and other sectarian properties. The Old North Church of Boston, Mass. received $317,000 in public funds to repair and restore windows, and render the building more accessible to the public. The constitutionality of the award has yet to be challenged; but Norton justified the grant by citing the fact that Old North was the oldest church building in Boston, and that Paul Revere spotted two lanterns hung from the church as a signal of the advancing British troops.

   "This new policy (giving money to houses of worship) will bring balance to our historic preservation program and end a discriminatory double-standard that has been applied against those religious properties," Norton declared.

   The new guidelines gut rules in place since the 1970s governing the disbursement of public money for the rehabilitation of churches and church-controlled assets.

   In the wake of the Old North Church grant, Jim Towey of the WHOFBCI said that religious groups could not be part of the grant mix in the $30 million-a-year program operated by Save America's Treasures.

   ¶       The use of public money to aid religion under the guise of "historic preservation" surfaced during the 2000 presidential campaign, and is sure to be on the issue roster with candidates in 2004. One unabashed supporter of this precedent -- along with President Bush -- is Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

   During a December, 2001 address to an obscure but influential group known as Partners for Sacred Places, Lieberman justified the use of taxation to repair houses of worship.

   "We can't tell American history ... without talking about the history of our sacred places," Lieberman gushed. "We can't have a strong future for our community without safeguarding the buildings (that are used for worship)."

   AANEWS noted: "Lieberman suggested that President Bush's faith-based initiative ... could play a key role in the rehabilitation of dilapidated churches, synagogues and mosques across the nation."

   The presidential hopeful also told his audience that houses of worship "are anchoring centers of community service and moral leadership."

   ¶       The idea of using public money to repair and maintain religious properties as a venue for administrating religion-saturated social programs was proposed by John DiIulio, the first White House faith-based project czar.

   Addressing the Partners group in December, 2001, DiIulio excoriated Americans who were "behind the curve in thinking of our older religious properties as civic assets."

   DiIulio also linked public funding of church repairs and preservation to the wider issue of President Bush's faith-based initiative.

   "When those buildings crumble, when the deferred maintenance catches up, the preschool and the prison ministry and the day-care center and the after-school latchkey learning program ... crumble and go away, too. They just don't move to the Ramada Inn."

   DiIulio also revealed that the Bush administration would challenge the 1995 administrative regulation that banned the use of federal money controlled by the National Park Service for maintaining or rehabilitating any religious properties. He said that the White House considered those sorts of constitutional and administrative guidelines an example of "unfriendly" social policy directed against religious groups.

   ¶       Behind the scenes, the Bush administration and Towey's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives have been quietly working to dismantle what they see as "barriers" to the funding of religious groups, especially where historic preservation or the fate of religion-oriented social projects are involved. A host of federal agencies can now open their budgets for church repair and "historical" celebrations.

   They include agencies and projects funded by the Department of the Interior, including the National Endowment for the Arts, National Park Service, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Also affected are such diverse programs as the National Capital Planning Commission, the Smithsonian Institution, Commission of Fine Arts, Bureau of Land Management, National Gallery of Art and even the Kennedy Center for the Performing Acts. These and other agencies/projects may be used as funding conduits to repair or assist "historic" houses of worship, provided some sort of minimal rationale for the subsidy can be presented.

   ¶       Other cases of religious groups benefiting from the constitutionally-suspect government grants are beginning to surface.

   In Atlantic City, NJ, a local Baptist congregation seems to be benefiting from a sudden availability of government funding to landscape the sidewalk area in front of the church. Meanwhile back in Baltimore, the pastor for St. Vincent de Paul Church has filed an application for a state credit. Rev. Richard Lawrence told the Baltimore Sun he wants to recoup up to $250,000 from the state for repairs to the church rectory which dates to the early 1800s.

   Delegate Samuel I. Rosenbert, a Baltimore Democrat is on board with the project, and declares that it would be "unfair" to exclude faith-based groups from receiving government assistance.

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