Does it pay to pay for faith?

Susan Jacoby Contributes an Op-Ed piece today "Keeping the Faith, Ignoring the History."

It is truly dismaying that amid all the discussion about President Obama’s version of faith-based community initiatives, there has been such a widespread reluctance to question the basic assumption that government can spend money on religiously based enterprises without violating the First Amendment.

It seems to me, that it would behoove the Church of Satan to apply for some of the White House faith-based monies. Certainly the Church couldn't do less harm than Chuck Colson.

As Jeff Zeleny and Laurie Goodstein reported back on 2/5/2009 (White House Faith Office to Expand)

Asked whether his office would work with religious groups outside the mainstream, like the Church of Scientology, that may seek government grants for social services, Mr. DuBois said: “There’s no picking or choosing or cherry-picking of groups. That was allowed before, but it will not be the practice moving forward.”