Recently, President George W. Bush put forth plans that would allow religious groups to compete with secular and government groups for federal tax dollars. The plan would also give more generous tax deductions to Americans who donate regularly to charitable groups and set up an office to oversee the handing out of federal money to faith-based charitable organizations. These religious groups would receive billions of tax dollars to provide social services to Americans in need over the next ten years.

If this is Bush"s ideal of compassionate conservatism, he is sadly mistaken. This plan is deeply flawed and has the potential to do great harm to the country"s citizens and institutions.

A faith-based charity is nothing more than a political euphemism for a religious mission. Bush"s plan would put the fate of the United States" marginalized citizens into the hands of religious missionaries who often have the dual goals of helping those in need as well as proselyting.

Americans seeking social services should not have to accept the religious precepts of a group offering aid. This is inevitably what will happen. The partiality of religious groups makes them reluctant to take on thorny issues which may clash with their morals, leaving segments of the needy high and dry.

This is not compassion. People in desperate situations have enough worries without having to feel uncomfortable asking for help.

By allowing faith-based groups access to government funding, this plan would decimate funding for existing cash-strapped service programs. Bush"s plan would create a massive bureaucracy that would tie together two institutions whose separation is fundamental to our Constitution: Church and state.

Bush"s new proposal would severely threaten the integrity of religious groups as well as put the government in the awkward positions of regulating and intruding upon them.

It forces our government to ask the question: What is a religious group? The United States is not in the business of determining what constitutes a religion. The government will be forced to deal with this question as countless groups with dubious intentions step up for their share of generous federal funding.

If Bush is the compassionate conservative he claims to be, he would not be concerned about who is helping people he would only be concerned with helping people. Instead of displaying a genuine interest in helping the needy, Bush"s plan is nothing more than an attempt at blurring the lines of church and state, thereby appeasing the religious right that helped elect him. This plan will have disastrous consequences for Americans in need and this country"s cherished institutions.