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Barack Obama announced today that he intends to expand George W. Bush’s unconstitutional program of so-called “faith-based” initiatives. These programs are religious - that’s what the phrase “faith-based” means.

So, let’s get down to brass tacks: Barack Obama intends to set up a system of government funding for religious programs, and one that’s even bigger than what George W. Bush has established. The purpose of this system is to channel government money to religious organizations, so that the religious organizations can perform the functions that the government had previously been performing. The government of We The People gets replaced by the churches of They The Preachers - yet We The People still get stuck with the bill.

(Hear more on the associated podcast about the new faith-based Obama scheme)

If the government’s paying for these programs, they’re established by the government, even if they’re administered by the religious groups. So, Barack Obama wants to use government money to establish religious programs.

Let’s go back to the First Amendment, shall we? It states that there shall be no government establishment of religion: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. All federal money comes through Congress. So, what Barack Obama is proposing is that Congress make law that provides the President with the money to give to religious programs (or, Obama is proposing to completely ignore the First Amendment ban on what money from Congress can be used for).

Obama’s campaign claims this all is just a big misunderstanding. They say that the programs that will get money under Barack Obama’s plans will all be secular. Think about that for a second, and you’ll see how absurd that claim is: Secular faith-based initiatives?!? Really? If the programs are all going to be secular, then why are they being called “faith-based” - when “faith-based” means religious?

These excuses don’t fly. There’s a reason that Barack Obama calls these programs “faith-based”, and it’s the same reason that George W. Bush called his programs “faith-based”. It has to do with campaign politics.

Barack Obama wants to get elected President. From the start, Obama has been using churches as de-facto campaign organizations. He’s campaigned in churches, and he’s had churches campaign on his behalf. He’s even had gospel tours for his campaign with church leaders taking part. This is illegal and unconstitutional, but Barack Obama seems to care more about getting elected than he does about the law and the Constitution.

Barack Obama’s announcement that he plans to use the power of government to shovel huge amounts of money into the bank accounts of big, powerful churches is nothing more than an attempt to buy more churches to use as campaign organizations to help Obama get elected.

Faith-based, nothing. These initiatives are kickback-based.

This is the main reason that Obama’s government-funded religious programs are unconstitutional and illegal: They are designed to persuade tax-exempt religious organizations to engage in political campaigning for one particular candidate.

These programs are corrupt. They corrupt the government by setting government policy with the purpose of political allegiance. They corrupt churches by encouraging church leaders to campaign for the candidate who promises to write the biggest government handout check back to the church after Inauguration Day.

If Barack Obama were truly progressive, and if he truly cared about the Constitution, he would end George W. Bush’s government-funded religious programs, not expand them.