Coalition says Head Start bill 'inconsistent' with Civil Rights Act

Coalition says Head Start bill 'inconsistent' with Civil Rights Act

U.S. faith-based groups are asking Congress to allow their participation in a federal program designed to help pre-school children and their low-income families. A coalition of conservative activist and faith-based groups is calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - California) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R - Ohio) to add a religious freedom amendment to the proposed Improving Head Start Act.

Dr. John Holmes, director of government affairs for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), says faith-based groups have been unfairly shut out of Head Start programs. "The 1964 Civil Rights Act, Section VII, says that faith-based groups are allowed to hire what some attorney called co-religionists," he says.

"In other words, if I'm Baptist, I'm allowed to hire Baptists; if I'm Catholic, I'm allowed to hire Catholics; if I'm Jewish, I'm allowed to hire Jews," Holmes explains. However, he notes, the co-religionist provision is not included in the Improving Head Start Act, and the House Education and Labor Committee recently rejected an amendment put forth by committee member Luis Fortuno of Puerto Rico, which would have allowed religious groups to receive federal Head Start funds.

ACSI is urging Congress to drop the prohibition against faith-based groups taking part in the federal Head Start program. The group is arguing that federal law prohibits this kind of discrimination against religious organizations.

"President Clinton, when he was in the presidency, signed four laws that made those laws consistent with the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Holmes points out. "Why shouldn't this bill be consistent?" he asks.

The push for a religious freedom amendment to the Head Start bill is also being backed by leaders of groups such as the Family Research Council, the Free Congress Foundation, and the American Family Association.