Separation of church and state? Religious groups get $26 million in NC taxpayer money

North Carolina’s newly passed state budget includes nearly $26 million in funding for religious organizations, ranging from direct grants to individual churches to funds for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

Among the top recipients are groups that have come under scrutiny in the past for improperly using federal funds and allegedly providing pregnant women with misleading information about abortion.

Republicans, who have a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, have enacted far-reaching conservative policies this session, overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes a whopping 19 times. The budget itself is an example of the GOP’s power, as top leaders secured earmarks in their districts and groups supporting Republican priorities received hefty grants.

Jennifer Copeland, executive director of the North Carolina Council of Churches, questioned why Christian groups with conservative ideologies were funded, while groups like hers, which support progressive causes, were not.

“How did these particular organizations and churches and schools get selected out of all of the potential organizations, churches and schools in North Carolina to receive this funding?” she said. “... Even before that, I have a hard time with taxpayer dollars supporting particular religious agendas.”

What does the law say?

Faith-based groups are generally prohibited from using federal funds for religious activities, like worship or proselytism, but things are murkier with state funding.

The state constitution does not expressly prohibit the use of state funds for religious purposes, but does require that government spending be used for “public purposes only.” The state Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean that activities funded by the government must benefit all members of the public, not a select few.

The budget, which passed the Republican-controlled General Assembly last month after months of delayed negotiations, does include language saying that “directed grants to nonprofit organizations are for nonsectarian, nonreligious purposes only.”

The budget appears to only include money for Christian religious organizations, lacking funding for any Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist groups. Most of these groups, however, purport to serve anyone, regardless of religion.

“Christian-based organizations are fulfilling needs for the most desperate in our communities and are able to provide personal attention with a compassionate approach unlike government run services,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the conservative N.C. Values Coalition, said in a statement to The News & Observer. “Groups who object to this funding want the state to discriminate against religious groups simply because of their faith.”

In a 2017 case, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a church in Missouri that was denied public funding for being a religious organization. In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that this violated the First Amendment and that states could not exclude churches from aid programs so long as those programs are neutral and secular.

Crisis pregnancy centers receive the bulk of the money

Nearly $19 million in the budget goes to crisis pregnancy centers, groups that generally dissuade women from having abortions and counsel women on alternatives for dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

“These so-called crisis pregnancy centers are not health care providers. They’re anti-abortion organizations,” the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina said in a statement to The N&O. “These organizations provide medically inaccurate information to prevent people from making informed decisions about their health.”

The Carolina Pregnancy Care Foundation, an umbrella organization overseeing crisis pregnancy centers across the state, received $12.5 million in the budget — the most out of any religious organization.

CPCF, which also uses the name LifeLink Carolina, will use the money to dole out grants to individual crisis pregnancy centers.

Bobbie Meyer, the state director of LifeLink, said all of the pregnancy centers receiving funding from her organization are Christian, faith-based organizations.

But she said her organization is careful to separate state funds from the centers’ religious purchases.

Every crisis pregnancy center that receives funding through her organization signs a memorandum stating they only use the money for non-sectarian purposes, like ultrasound equipment.

Meyer said she also submits quarterly and annual reports to state regulators that document how centers used state funds.

“We take it quite seriously and adhere to it,” she said.

Critics have questioned how well state funds are partitioned from the crisis pregnancy centers’ religious activities.

LifeLink Carolina came under fire in 2018 after Rewire News, a reproductive health news outlet, reported that its centers improperly used federal funds for religious materials, including DVDs that claim to help men “discover authentic manhood as modeled by Jesus Christ.”

“These expenses should not have been approved and this spending is not consistent with federal law,” the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services wrote in a statement to Rewire News. “We are strengthening oversight of this program and exploring repayment options.”

Another crisis pregnancy center network, the Human Coalition, got $3 million in this year’s budget following national attention for alleged deceptive practices.

A 2022 investigation published by The New York Times featured several North Carolina women who claimed they were given incorrect or misleading information about pregnancy from the Human Coalition.

A Charlotte woman featured in the story said that workers at a Human Coalition pregnancy center gave her an inaccurate ultrasound reading, telling her she was too far along to undergo a medication abortion when she was actually far earlier in her pregnancy.

State legislators first began funding the Human Coalition — which is based in Texas — back in 2017. In 2019, NCDHHS reported to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee that it did not recommend giving the organization further funding.

“The model being piloted by the Human Coalition has not been subject to independent research or evaluation,” the department report said. “Therefore, it cannot be identified as evidence-based or even a best practice.”

In 2019, watchdog nonprofit Campaign for Accountability called on the state to end its contract with Human Coalition over allegations that they spent taxpayer money on proselytizing.

They pointed to the organization’s volunteer form, which asks applicants to answer questions like, “Have you made a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ?”

Salem Pregnancy Support Center, which receives state grants from LifeLink Carolina, asks applicants similar questions, like, “Are you a Christian?” and “How do you know that God is leading you to serve this ministry?”

Meyer said this is not a violation of state or federal law because the centers never fully fund staff positions with state money.

“No more than 50% is ever funded with any kind of grant funds,” she said. “Therefore the other 50% can go to anything like praying with a client.”

Not all of the crisis pregnancy centers funded in the budget are part of LifeLink, and some of them do not claim to have a religious affiliation; $1.4 million went to pregnancy centers whose religious affiliation was unstated or explicitly nondenominational.

Christian schools, nonprofits and individual churches benefit as well

Individual churches, schools and nonprofits, some of which expressly discourage homosexuality or abortion among their members and students, receive direct funds from the budget as well.

The Community Church of Mount Pleasant, located in Cabarrus County, received $1.5 million, more than any other individual church. Located in Republican Sen. Paul Newton’s district, the church received the money for capital projects and asbestos remediation, per language in the budget.

“The funds will be used for non-sectarian purposes such as mold and asbestos remediation for a former middle school building,” Newton, who is also the Senate majority leader, said in an email to The N&O. “The middle school building campus serves the community (in) a variety of ways such as youth football, basketball and food pantry for the poor.”

The church’s bylaws lay out its opposition to same-sex relationships and abortion.

“We believe that God has commanded that all intimate, sexual activity occur within marriage between a man and a woman,” the bylaws read. “We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, fornication, adultery, or pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.”

At least four other churches get money in the budget, though in much smaller amounts, for repairing community centers, investing in a food ministry or funding a STEAM program, which teaches skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts or math.

The Carolina Christian Academy, a private school in Davidson County, received a $100,000 direct grant for capital improvements. The school’s admissions policy states that it does not enroll students “known to be involved in sexual activity including pre-marital sex, homosexuality and pornography.”

This grant is in addition to a massive expansion of the state’s Opportunity Scholarships program, which gives families vouchers to send their children to private schools. This year, Republican legislators tripled funding for the program in the budget and made all families, regardless of income, eligible to receive the scholarships.

A 2020 study from Duke Law School found that about 92% of vouchers were used for religious schools, the majority of which use curriculum based on biblical principles.

The budget also funds a variety of Christian nonprofits for food banks and emergency assistance programs.

The Mooresville Area Christian Mission, which offers poverty assistance programs in Iredell County, was allocated $4 million over the next two years for capital improvements and equipment.

The Carolina Maternity Home Association in Greensboro, which also uses the name Room at the Inn, got $1.56 million to help provide housing to single pregnant women.

“This money was for capacity building for the association and maternity homes to support our emergence out of the COVID pandemic and to help each of the homes build their capacities to meet their local challenges in their own communities,” Albert Hodges, president of Room at the Inn, told the N&O in an email.

In a message written on the organization’s homepage, Hodges wrote, “Life is a precious gift to be nurtured and cherished. We recognize Jesus in our mothers and children, born and unborn. Our ministry provides us the opportunity to help build a culture of life and extend Christ’s merciful love to them as they work hard to embark on new paths of responsible, wholesome living.”

Hodges said his organization did not directly ask the legislature or the governor for funding, but applied through funding request forms on state government websites.

Government agencies like NCDHHS regularly post opportunities for competitive grants, but much of the funding in the budget comes in the form of direct grants decided on by legislators.