Thousands of Texas clergy got virus funds
CARES Act money went to religious groups to protect 59,000 jobs during the pandemic
Roughly 1,000 Texas churches and religious institutions received loans through a historic federal assistance program passed in response to COVID-19, including most of the state's Catholic dioceses and multiple megachurches.
All told, hundreds of millions of dollars was doled out to retain a combined 59,000 jobs at churches and religious organizations in the Lone Star State, according to data released this week by the Small Business Administration. The SBA’s data only show ranges for received loans, meaning the total amount of money could be anywhere between $280 million and $700 million.
Some of Houston’s largest religious institutions turned to the program, including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, First Baptist Church of Houston and St. Mark Lutheran Church.
But many smaller institutions also took advantage of the first-ever program. The Union Baptist Association
of Houston, for example, received a loan of less than $350,000 because it is dependent on donations from churches, many of which remain closed.
“We were facing a very uncertain economic forecast since the churches that support us were facing their own uncertainty,” UBA head Josh Ellis said. “We’re a small nonprofit, and I want to continue to do ministry and care for those on my team by keeping them employed like any other small business operator.”
One expert called the SBA’s reported numbers “staggering.”
“You’re talking about a significant number of churches that were assisted by the government,” said William Vanderbloemen, the head of a Houston-based church consultancy group. “That’s just unprecedented.”
Prior to this year, some reli
gious programs such as chaplaincies had received federal funding. The CARES Act changed that, establishing a direct financial line between the U.S. government and the religious world, broad swaths of which actively opposed such an idea for fears that it could allow for government meddling in religious affairs.
That opposition continued even after the passage of the CARES Act, with many pastors and other religious leaders saying they wouldn’t apply for funds.
“What makes this really historic is that (the act includes) loans that could directly pay for clergy people, and not for the secular services they provide,” said Benjamin Marcus, religious literacy specialist at the Freedom Forum’s Religious Freedom Center in Washington, D.C.
Nationwide, the first-of-its-kind program temporarily financed the paychecks of more than a halfmillion pastors and church employees, according to Ryan Burge, an Eastern Illinois University religion and political science professor.
Burge also found that churches affiliated with Catholicism — by far the nation’s largest faith group — received a significant bulk of the loans given to religious groups.
The Associated Press reported Friday that the Catholic Church took in anywhere from $1.4 billion to $3.5 billion or more in federal funds. Millions went to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups, the AP reported.
Houses of worship and faithbased groups aren’t typically eligible for SBA funds, but Congress let them tap into a $659 billion fund created to keep businesses open and people employed as the economy entered a downturn.
Though the religious world’s slice of the federal funding pie was relatively small — churches had never received this kind of federal lifeline.
Nor has that been without controversy: Since the SBA released its data earlier this week, numerous churches have faced criticism for using the program.
For example: Willow Creek
Community Church, a massive Chicago-area congregation that faces ongoing scandals, was one of a handful of organizations that received between $5 million and $10 million, the highest tier of funds offered through the program, according to Religion News Service.
First Baptist Church of Dallas — which is led by a friend of President Donald Trump’s and which recently hosted Vice President Mike Pence — also received between $2 million and $5 million.
A Hebrew academy in New Jersey that’s named after the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also received money.
Some groups have also taken issue with what they say is lax oversight by the federal government of those who received money.
In a Monday press release, American Atheists blasted the Trump administration for releasing only partial data on Payment Protection Program recipients. The group also took issue with the amount of money given to religious groups as compared to government entities such as the Centers For Disease Control.
“Americans have a right to know exactly how much of their tax dollars are unconstitutionally propping up churches, and the Trump administration cannot be allowed to leave Americans in the dark,” the group said. “In two months, the Trump administration has given churches and religious schools more money than double the CDC’s annual budget of $6.5 billion. If that doesn’t make it crystal clear what this administration’s priorities are, nothing will.”
Trump has tried to shore up his support among evangelicals and religious conservatives as part of his reelection bid, ordering protesters forcibly removed in Washington, D.C., so he could stage a photo op in front of a well-known church holding up a Bible.
Richard Foltin, a senior scholar at the Freedom Forum, worries that the CARES Act could set a precedent that could erode the separation of church and state farther down the line.
Like others, he noted that the loans allocated through the program are forgivable if recipients can prove they properly used the money.
To many, that sounds a lot like a federal grant — which religious institutions are mostly barred from receiving under Supreme Court rulings.
Yet Foltin also said that giving money to churches during a pandemic makes sense. He compared the current debate to those over whether to extend federal disaster assistance to religious groups that were hit by natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey.
With coronavirus, he said, “We’re all in the same boat” — federal funding, then, can be used as a sort of “social insurance” that can protect from a disaster that affects all segments of society.
“It’s not money that’s being given to lift up one organization or institution,” he said.
The big question, he said, is whether or not the CARES Act is a misnomer, or if it could one day be the norm.
“What we’re dealing with here is a core concern (of the First Amendment).” he said. “The issue is, what do we think the right principles are if we're not dealing with such an emergency situation like COVID?”