I WOULD LIKE to respond to the for- and-against articles regarding charitable choice in the July-August 1998 issue ("Charitable Choice: Two Views," by Stanley W. Carlson-Thies and Melissa Rogers). I am glad to see you include the Center for Public Justice in your magazine. I am sure there are many of their philosophies you disagree with. I am left of center politically, but so enjoy Sojourners' call to go beyond the religious Right/secular Left debate.
I have found that the CPJ offers some fresh solutions to today's problems. I found the arguments of Stanley Carlson-Thies convincing and workable, while the article by Melissa Rogers was defeatist in tone, protective of outdated constitutional paradigms, and, in a word, paranoid. Thank you for your balanced offering in this important debate over faith-based organizations offering non-coercive, yet faith-filled ministry to those in need. It is high time we recognize that while the Constitution wisely spelled out that the state should in no way establish religion, it should never prohibit the free exercise of it. One of the places it should have the opportunity to exercise itself is in the compassionate provision of public welfare.
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