Church-paid trips by aides raise questions on religion-politics mix

By Rebecca Brown and Kevin Bogardus - The Hill
Friday, August 01, 2008 - Web Link
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July 31, 2008

A review of White House travel records shows churches and other religious entities paid for close to a quarter of the privately funded trips taken by White House aides since late 2006.

Critics, who see this as evidence the administration is mixing faith and public policy, say religious groups may feel pressure to sponsor aides’ travel in order to secure government funding for their own work.

“I think there would be very few circumstances where a religious organization or church paying government officials wouldn’t lead to a conflict of interest,” said Terri Schroeder, a senior lobbyist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Groups like the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), which paid for former White House aide Tim Goeglein to travel to its annual convention in 2007 for a speech, counter that the White House has a responsibility to connect with religious organizations.

“People of faith make up a crucial American demographic. Frankly, we would think it rather odd if an administration neglected religious groups in its sphere of contacts,” said Craig Parshall, the NRB’s senior vice president and general counsel.

The review of government records, undertaken by The Hill, found at least 24 trips for staff members to President Bush were paid for by churches or other religious groups. Faith-based organizations paid for the most travel in the time period, followed by universities and think tanks, which paid for 15 trips each.

Groups paying for trips include the United Pentecostal Church, the Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.