The Real Effect of Charitable Choice Provisions on Social Service Providers, Employees, and Beneficiaries

Uncharitable Choice:

The Real Effect of
Charitable Choice Provisions on
Social Service Providers, Employees, and Beneficiaries

Envision a world where, instead of calling for collections from the pulpit of their church, ministers spend their time lobbying the state agencies for contracts to provide all the counseling for battered women in the community. Imagine a world in which one denomination controls the market in pregnancy counseling, and another subcontracts out the substance abuse services only to their affiliates. Do these scenarios seem unlikely in the U.S. today? Although it may seem unrealistic, they could actually become a reality if Congress enacts the "Charitable Choice Expansion Act."

The "Charitable Choice" provisions would prevent governmental entities from denying a contract to any religious institution for any public health or social services contract that is up for bidding by private organizations. To ensure that religious institutions are not "discriminated" against, the legislation provides an express cause of action for them if they suspect discrimination as a reason for being denied. In addition, they are empowered to administer subcontracts while maintaining their exemptions from Title VII's prohibition on employment discrimination and preserving their sectarian character. The effect of the legislation is to grant wholesale impunity to discrimination by religious service providers against other religions in hiring subcontractors.

In addition, this Act would allow religious service providers to indoctrinate beneficiaries while participating in government programs. In so doing, it uses tax dollars to trap beneficiaries in situations in which their religious expression may be stifled or their beliefs attacked.

This Act also would enable government-sponsored discrimination by expanding the exemptions in Title VII for religious employers to publicly funded religious services. This would not only violate the Equal Protection Clause by discriminating against persons on the basis of religion, but it would also encroach upon individual service providers' religious liberties. It would do so by forcing them to choose between their own religious convictions, which may differ from the contractors in the local area, and their zeal to provide the much needed services to disadvantaged individuals in the community.

Finally, the "Charitable Choice Expansion Act" would allow religious institutions, funded by taxpayer funds, to systematically exclude persons on the basis of their religious beliefs, marital or familial status, gender, sexual orientation, or pregnancy status. It would also give religious institutions free reign in forcing both employees and beneficiaries alike to subscribe to religious tenets and beliefs that are discriminatory.