From Austin, Texas to Washington, DC, George W. Bush has avidly pursued policies that give faith-based social service providers generous amounts of taxpayer funding while simultaneously eliminating protections from religious coercion, discrimination and more. The catastrophic effects of Bush's Faith-based Initiative on Texas's families in need, the separation of church and state, and community health and safety standards are documented in a new report from the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund (TFNEF).

At the five-year mark of Texas's implementation of the Bush Faith-based Initiative, TFNEF found that "it is impossible to demonstrate…a single positive outcome."

But a number of negative outcomes have been detailed, including:

1. Far from "leveling the playing field," Texas now gives preferential treatment in state contracting to faith-based service providers, often appearing to pass over more experienced and cost effective secular providers in favor of faith-based applicants.

2. Individuals in need have been forced, in some cases by a court order, to seek services from faith-based providers. Individuals under court order have no recourse if they are dissatisfied with such faith-based treatment.

3. As a condition of treatment, individuals in need have been forced to participate in religious activities funded, in part, by taxpayer dollars.

4. Faith-based providers have been given exemptions from state licensing and health and safety standards, allowing some faith-based programs with documented histories of abuse and neglect to continue operating while their clients remain unaware that the program does not meet strict standards.

5. Deregulation of faith-based programs under Bush's initiative has allowed providers to treat physical diseases like alcoholism and drug addiction as "sins" and to refuse to offer individuals medical treatment for these illnesses.

According to TFNEF, these and other consequences of the Faith-based Initiative have caused Texas state lawmakers who formerly supported the initiative to begin reversing course. President Bush, meanwhile, has already taken steps within the executive branch to create a national Faith-based Initiative modeled on Texas's failure. In recent weeks the Department of Health and Human Services began awarding millions of dollars in government grants to organizations charged with distributing the funds to faith-based and community organizations. Among the grant recipients is Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing International, which is to receive $500,000 to allocate to providers of its choice.

At President Bush's urging, the House of Representatives approved the "Community Solutions Act" (H.R. 7) on a largely party-line vote. The bill would permit the same kind of government-funded religious discrimination and proselytizing that Bush implemented in Texas. The Senate may soon consider a bill introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA) that could permit religious organizations to discriminate in hiring using tax dollars and could override state and local anti-discrimination laws.