Steve Re: Janesville in the news

Tuesday, President Bush mentioned an incident in Janesville in a speech to the Faith-Based and Community Initiative Conference.

"Let me give you an example of part of the issues that faith-based programs face at the state and local government. Janesville, Wisconsin, authorized the Salvation Army to use federal funds to help purchase a small apartment building to use for transitional housing for the homeless. The city council wisely said, why don't we go to an expert? The Army, the Salvation Army has done this for years; they know what they're doing. And that was good news. The bad news is, is that when it approved the funding, the city added a provision declaring that religious ceremonies are not to be conducted on the site initiated by the Salvation Army. That doesn't make any sense, to tell a faith-based provider that they cannot practice the religion that inspires them in the work of compassion.

And so when we learned what happened there with the city council, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the office we set up, sent a letter informing the city that as long as the religious services were not funded with federal money, in other words, the money was not -- federal money was not used to proselytize, and participation was voluntary. The city had no right to tell the Salvation Army that the price of running a center was to give up its prayers. It's an important concept that you just heard. I mean, it's a -- and, fortunately, the Janesville city council reversed its previous stand."