Separation between church and state blurring

George Bush is a big proponent of faith-based rehab programs and when he was governor, the state of Texas funded many of them under his administration. These programs treat drug addiction as a sin and provide Bible study as the treatment. All well and good if an addict enters the program under their free will. However, as evidenced in the case of Joe Hanas, a non-violent drug offender, the danger to democracy and our freedom of religion, lies in permitting blatant religious coercion by endorsing one religion over another and actively demanding conversion.

As part of a progressive court program, Hanas had a chance to receive drug rehabilitation rather than go to jail. There was, unfortunately, one major problem - Joe Hanas is a practicing Catholic, and the program was operated by Pentecostals. Though the judge's intent may not have been for Hanas to convert to the Pentecostal faith, his test for Hanas' successful completion of the "drug court" program hinged on just that.

The coercion was extreme, and it was an elected judge who allowed it. Hanas' rosary, his Bible and his priest were all kept from him. Staff members, none of them certified or trained drug counselors or therapists, told him that Catholicism is a form of "witchcraft." He was not only forbidden to follow his Catholic faith, but he was also tested on his learning of Pentecostal principles.

And, he was told, his rehabilitation would not be complete until he knelt at the altar and proclaimed himself "saved."

Joe's only choice was to convert or request transfer to a secular program. Unfortunately, the judge took the request as a lack of commitment and took away, "the only opportunity Hanas had to receive affordable residential drug rehabilitation and a possible dismissal of the charges."

While there are some good faith-based agencies that provide contracted government services to all regardless of affiliation, allowing Hanas to be placed in this program by a court order, and then essentially using his commitment to his own religious beliefs to sentence him to jail sets a dangerous precedent.