The Bush administration escalated its campaign today to loosen restrictions on religious charity-providers, with Attorney General John Ashcroft delivering an aggressive attack on the "bigotry" that he said religious groups had faced for decades in the United States.
"Unfortunately, over the last several decades, the government has discriminated against people of faith who are striving to do good for others," Mr. Ashcroft said in a speech in Denver. "Out of fear, ignorance and occasional bigotry, faith-based groups have been prohibited from competing for federal funding on a level playing field with secular groups."
Civil rights groups, who say the administration's plan to give religious organizations government money for social services represents an illegal infringement on the separation of church and state, accused Mr. Ashcroft of distorting the historical record. And they questioned whether it was proper for him, as the legal officer charged with overseeing civil rights enforcement, to be lobbying on such a divisive political issue.
The Bush administration has made its support of religion-based charitable work a centerpiece of its political agenda. The White House's legislative package, which is intended to loosen restrictions on religious charitable work, has stalled in the Senate. But President Bush revived the issue last month by issuing an executive order requiring that federal agencies not discriminate against religious organizations in awarding grants for community and social service work. A crucial provision asserts that religious groups that become contractors do not give up their right to hire on the basis of religious beliefs.
Religious and conservative groups applauded the move, but some Democrats and civil rights groups said it would open the way for widespread discrimination in hiring.
Mr. Ashcroft's outspoken views on God and religion, his prayer breakfasts at the Justice Department and remarks attributed to him comparing Christianity with Islam last year have made him a lightning rod for criticism from civil rights advocates who accuse him of crossing the line into religious advocacy.