Wednesday, March 14, 2001

President Bush's initiative to provide federal funding to faith-based organizations, enabling them to better provide social services to the needy in this country, is worthwhile and deserves our full support. Why?

Because I believe it's time to give the religious organizations a little assistance to do what they do best help people in need. Lord knows that secular programs emanating from Washington have failed miserably, while programs like Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army, Alcoholics Anonymous, Prison Fellowship, and the countless soup kitchens and rescue missions throughout the cities of this country have worked wonders.

And while I approve of this initiative, there is one aspect of it that could present a serious problem: the potential for government money to flow into the coffers of some 3,000 cults in the U.S.

Cults have become a serious problem in America, and I'm referring specifically to what are called the "manipulative" cults. These are the ones that are obsessive in their ideology and aggressive in their recruitment practices, the ones that prey on our young people when they are most vulnerable away at college or while facing an emotional or psychological crisis. Once they target a young person individually, cult members are forceful, militant, and unrelenting.

The most prominent of these manipulative cults are Scientology, the Moonies, and the International Church of Christ (ICC).

While I have a working knowledge of some of them, my personal experience has been with the International Church of Christ, the fastest-growing cult in the world.

The International Church of Christ (ICC) is not related to or a part of the mainline Protestant group of churches known as the Church of Christ. The ICC is a splinter group, founded by self-proclaimed prophet Kip McKean.

To summarize its doctrine: the ICC believes that McKean is the only true prophet of Jesus Christ, that only ICC members will go to heaven, and that all non-members, including Mother Teresa, the Pope, Billy Graham, and the rest of us, are going straight to hell.

In the ICC, money flows upward, to Kip McKean and the rest of the hierarchy at the apex, not to the people at the bottom. The people at the bottom become "worker bees," who hustle money and new recruits as soon as they are converted.

I saw this up close and personal during the time I spent rescuing a close relative of mine from the ICC. Students were forced to tithe from their meager incomes and received nothing in return. Older members of the ICC had to tithe all year and then were required to cough up another 10 percent of their overall year's donation amount in April of every year a kind of double whammy at tax time.

The ICC can be likened to a giant Ponzi plan a pyramid scheme that continually needs a new layer of fresh recruits that feed money to the layer above, which in turn feeds money to the layer above, ad infinitum and ad nauseum.

In contrast, in a legitimate faith-based organization, the money and assistance flow from the top down to the bottom to the needy. Many if not all of the service providers are volunteers. They are prompted to serve God by serving those in need. It is these organizations we want to encourage with unrestricted, unqualified Federal dollars.

So how will the Bush Administration provide safeguards that insure that federal tax dollars don't flow to these cults? Here are some guidelines that come to mind:

Establish an "approved list" of organizations that have a proven record of success, and avoid organizations that are thrown together simply to take advantage of this program. Accept only those newly-formed organizations that have broad, deep support in their communities. Choose organizations that already have an infrastructure in place to dispense services.

President Bush's faith-based initiative can have a dramatic impact on this country, by providing an alternative source of funding for countless successful programs that are always hard pressed to raise money. However, not one dollar of Federal tax money can be allowed to fall into the hands of cults, who will use it as a windfall for their treasury or even worse, to hustle young, impressionable teenagers.

Lawrence A. De Marino

Peachtree City

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