Faith-Based Funding... and Fraud

With all of the efforts to put more money in the hands of religious groups so that they can provide social services, it is perhaps useful to observe how those efforts can sometimes result in corruption and fraud. Recently, a pastor in Indiana pleaded guilty to stealing more than USD $100,000 that was meant for a battered women's shelter that was never built.

The Indianapolis Star reports:

Lee C. Gilliam, 53, will be sentenced Oct. 29 for three felonies -- theft, perjury and failing to file income taxes. He faces two to 10 years in prison. He was originally charged with 16 felonies in connection with $445,000 in taxpayer grants he secured from the Build Indiana Fund. The other 13 charges will be dropped now that Marion Superior Court Judge Cale Bradford has accepted the plea agreement. Prosecutors believe Gilliam stole all $445,000 and used none of it to help battered women.

This is not the only instance of such fraud and corruption when religious groups have received public money. Religious organizations using public money need strict public oversight in order to ensure that nothing wrong happens - but how many will accept such conditions?

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101