Name: As churches get millions in COVID-19 loans, groups call for increased oversight
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As churches get millions in COVID-19 loans, groups call for increased oversight

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateAs federal lawmakers mull another COVID-19 stimulus package, some groups are calling for more oversight of religious institutions that receive taxpayer money to shoulder payroll and other costs during the pandemic.Some point to the multimillion dollar loans received by large religious institutions and churches, as evidence that the federal government should require more financial disclosures from those receiving money through the first-of-its-kind program.Lakewood was among the at least 60 religious institutions in Texas that received more than $1 million in loans through the stimulus package, according to released by the Small Business Administration.At $4.4 million, the Houston megachurch’s loan was just ahead of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which received about $4 million. The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese also received about $4.5 million.More from Robert Downen“This is direct government funding of religion,” said Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “And once government funding enters the equation, all bets are off. It then becomes a matter of public interest to determine if taxpayer money was spent in accordance with whatever law we’re talking about.”At issue is the a part of the CARES Act that federal lawmakers passed in response to the pandemic early this year.The program was unprecedented — — because it marked the first time the federal government extended a direct lifeline to untaxed religious institutions and houses of worship. Under the legislation, churches and nonprofits with fewer than 500 employees were made eligible for loans that are forgivable so long as they are used on basic costs such as payroll or utilities.Prior to the CARES Act, federal money had gone to some religious programs such as chaplaincies. But there had never been a direct line from the federal government’s coffers to untaxed religious groups.On HoustonChronicle.com:“That’s what’s truly remarkable,” said William Vanderbloemen, head of a Houston-based consultancy group that works with churches. “The government has never paid a church payroll — ever — and I think it just points to how unusual and, frankly, how desperate things were back in the spring.”More than 1,000 religious groups in Texas received hundreds of millions of dollars to retain a combined 59,000 jobs, the Chronicle reported in July.The Archdiocese’s loan helped pay for 276 jobs, and Catholic Charities retained 389 jobs with its loan, according to the new federal data.Some in the religious community feared the loans would the separation of church and state and thus allow for future government intervention in religious affairs.Others opposed the program because of what they said were noting that the Small Business Association said it would treat all applications for loans less than $2 million as being made in “good faith” and, thus, unnecessary to scrutinize.The PPP “strains church-state principles and comes perhaps as close as we’ve seen in a government program to funding religion itself,” said the Rev. Jennifer Hawks, associate general consul for the Baptist Joint Committee. “Our constitutional tradition protects faith freedom for all and wisely ensures our government doesn’t fund or otherwise establish religion. We shouldn’t allow an economic crisis to remove this important constitutional protection of religious freedom.”Those concerns remain months later, as new disclosures by the SBA shed more light on who received money.Lakewood, for example, faced criticism earlier this week after it was reported the Houston megachurch to retain roughly 370 jobs — the largest loan of any church in the state, and the seventh-highest of any religious institution in Texas.In a Tuesday statement to the Chronicle, Lakewood officials wrote that they suspended in-person services for more than seven months, which impacted the church’s ability to collect “substantial donations.”“Believing the shutdown would only last a few weeks, Lakewood did not initially apply for PPP assistance during the first half of the program,” Lakewood spokesperson Don Iloff said. “However, as the shutdown persisted month after month, given the economic uncertainty, Lakewood finally applied for the PPP loan and has been able to provide full salaries and benefits including health insurance coverage to all of its employees and their families.”Neither Osteen nor his wife Victoria have received salaries from Lakewood since 2004, and the PPP loans “do not provide any personal financial benefit to them, whatsoever,” Iloff said.But the criticism has not been limited to Lakewood.On Monday,that Daystar Television Network, a massive Christian broadcaster based in Dallas, was returning its $3.9 million PPP loan following questions about whether some of it was used to purchase a luxury Gulfstream jet.Daystar founder Marcus Lamb has denied the allegations, and told “Inside Edition” that the jet was bought with proceeds from an investment and the sale of an old jet.Richard Foltin, senior scholar for religious freedom at the Washington, D.C.-based Freedom Forum, said it was understandable for federal lawmakers to extend relief to religious groups — so long as specific religious groups are not given opportunities not afforded to others, which would violate federal law.“Houses of worship and institutions are being subjected to the same strains and are in the same danger as the rest of society,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean anything goes.”Foltin said that he hopes another potential round of PPP funding includes more “explicit” language about what is required of loan recipients, including houses of worship.Boston, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, similarly called for stronger oversight of both houses of worship and the many private, religious schools that .He also noted that the unprecedented program came as an increasing number of Americans flee traditional religion.“We’re moving into this area of taxpayer-funded religion at a time when that’s not what people want,” he said.robert.downen@chron.com

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateAs federal lawmakers mull another COVID-19 stimulus package, some groups are calling for more oversight of religious institutions that receive taxpayer money to shoulder payroll and other costs during the pandemic.Some point to the multimillion dollar loans received by large religious institutions and churches, as evidence that the federal government should require more financial disclosures from those receiving money through the first-of-its-kind program.Lakewood was among the at least 60 religious institutions in Texas that...

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As churches get millions in COVID-19 loans, groups call for increased oversight

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