http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20000318_xnfoj_ministers_.shtml
SATURDAY MARCH 18 2000
Ministers recruited for census sermons Pastor balks at Bureau's push to preach government gospel
By Julie Foster © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
A pastor who received an urgent package in the mail from the U.S. Census Bureau containing pamphlets and mini-sermons for his congregation is outraged at what he perceives to be government intrusion into church affairs.
Last week, Federal Express delivered an overnight letter to Pastor Albert Hitchcock of Wiser Lake Chapel in Lynden, Wash. The return address was "Bureau of the Census" in Jeffersonville, Ind., and inside were two high-gloss report folders titled, "Census 2000 information for congregations" -- one in English and the other in Spanish.
The folders contained announcements and messages for the next six weeks to be printed in church bulletins and announced to church members during worship services. Pamphlets, more than a hundred to be passed out to parishioners, were accompanied by a letter from Census Bureau Chief Kenneth Prewitt.
"Census 2000 must enlist strong partners to achieve the most accurate and complete census possible," the letter states. "Your dedication to your congregation and your community as well as your credibility throughout the community makes you an ideal partner for this critical endeavor. By helping us spread the word thatthe Census is important and safe, you will play a key role in making Census 2000 a success."
Hitchcock is incensed.
"Almost every day I read something wherein the Church is being told to stay out of government's business -- indeed out of the public square altogether," the pastor told WorldNetDaily. "If I put out voting guides, I am told I jeopardize our tax-exempt status, for example. So, where does the Census Bureau think they get the rightto commandeer God's Church to do[government] business?"
Now retired from military service, Hitchcock emphasized he is not "anti-government" and that he approves of a census in its "original context." But he will not participate in Prewitt's call to "spread the word."
"Printing something in the bulletin means that we endorse it," Hitchcock explained. "They presume that they're going to use my authority in my congregation to put my stamp of approval on what the Census Bureau is doing."
"There's not a chance I'm going to make these announcements," he added.
The bulletin announcement for Sunday, March 19 states: "The Constitution of the United States mandates a census every 10 years to determine how many seats each state will have in the United States House of Representatives. But community leaders use it for everything from planning schools and building roads to providing recreational opportunities and managing health care services. Fill out your census questionnaire and send it back. Include everyone living in your home, even people who are not related to you. This is your future. Don't leave it blank."
All information included in the package to Hitchcock is printed in color on expensive,high-gloss paper, causing the pastor to question the financial efficiency of the Bureau.
Indeed, around the country, charges of waste and bureaucracy are being leveled at the Census Bureau.
Several tons of census forms paid for by taxpayers are not making it to the correct addresses. In Central Florida alone, more than 160,000 forms marked "undeliverable" were picked up by a rented truck early Friday morning to be hauled back to the sender.
In a state with thousands of people moving in and out, it's perhaps not unusual for so many forms to contain the wrong addresses. So to compensate for forms not making it to their destination around the U.S., the Census Bureau began hiring "enumerators" and "crew leaders" who will go door-to-door distributing forms and assisting in their completion.
The Bureau claims it must "fill hundreds ofthousands of temporary, part-time positions to conduct the 2000 census." The new government employees began working Jan. 2, and pay scales range from $8.25 per hour for enumerators to $20.00 per hour for crew leaders.
A Phoenix, Ariz. regional Bureau office fired three of its top managers this week for recruiting the fewest census workers in a 10-state region.
The office, which serves some of the hardest-to-count groups in the area, needs 5,080 employees by the end of the month. So far, it has hired 3,001. Nationwide, it is in the bottom 10 percent in recruiting efforts among local offices.
According to the Census Bureau, "Most people will be needed for the largest census operation,Non-response Follow Up, when census takers go door-to-door to enumerate households that did not respond to the census questionnaire mail-out."
Apparently, 3,000 people is not enough to do the job in an area "often undercounted because residents are transient, little educated or undocumented," according to the Arizona Republic.
But more employees may not help government get the answers it wants to questions on the census form. Many Americans have refused to participate in the questionnaire beyond indicating the number of persons in their households. An increasing number of citizens regard personal questions related to race,occupation, transportation and even disability as an invasion of privacy, and many are engaging in what amounts to civil disobedience.
The penalty for not completing the form in its entirety is $100, according to U.S. Code, Title 13,Section 221. Proffering false answers renders a fine of up to $500.
Some citizens have even included $100 checks with their forms, on which they indicate only the number of people in their household.
One census critic called the Census Bureau hotline asking where to send his $100 fine, as he would not be completing the form in its entirety. After being transferred to an agency supervisor, he was told the Bureau had no information regarding fines for failure to participate, suggesting there is no mechanism in place for collecting the punitive fee.
Whether Census 2000 employees will attempt to collect fees for non-compliance remains to be seen, but the Bureau's solicitation of assistance from churches has already begun.
Hitchcock interprets that solicitation as a violation of the First Amendment.
"We have come full circle," the pastor said. "The Constitution guarantees that the government will not intrude into people's religion, though religion was always free to be the conscience of government. But now the tables have been completely turned. Churches are to keep their mouths shut and keep their hands off public life, but the government feels free to intrude into the Church at will to advance its policies."
"To assume you can take the authority of ministers of the gospel and make them pawns of government policy is just a huge presumption on their part," Hitchcock concluded.
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