President George W. Bush is imploring Congress to give religious groups special privileges under the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R. 1429). The president says religious groups need to be treated "equally," by being the only groups allowed to discriminate against Head Start teachers and volunteers.

The House is expected to vote on the bill today. It would reauthorize the popular preschool program for low-income children.

Head Start has been a staple of our public education system for decades. For 35 years it has also reinforced the ideal that our government does not fund discrimination of any kind. Grantees may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin when hiring teachers and selecting volunteers.

The Religious Right has worked tirelessly to overturn that civil rights protection and now has the full backing of the president of the United States. In a "Statement of Administration Policy" sent to the House yesterday, the Administration expressed support for Head Start, but said it "cannot support House passage of H.R. 1429 in its current form.

"The Administration strongly encourages the House to amend H.R. 1429," the statement said, "to ensure that faith-based organizations are not asked to forfeit their religious hiring autonomy as a condition of receiving Head Start grants. The Administration believes that such provisions should be applied to all federally funded social service programs so that faith-based organizations may operate on an equal level with every other organization competing to provide services."

An equal level? The White House just asked Congress to not only give religious groups the exclusive "right" to discriminate, but to pay for it!

Religious organizations have an absolute right to hire whomever they want for ecclesiastical positions because they're privately funded. Organizations forfeit this right when the American taxpayer foots the bill.

An amendment to allow religious groups to discriminate in hiring Head Start teachers and volunteers was introduced by Rep. Luis Fortuño (R-Puerto Rico), but it failed in the House Committee on Education and Labor on March 14. At this writing, an attempt to add the language when the bill reaches the House floor is a real possibility.

The administration and the Religious Right claim that allowing religious groups to discriminate makes them "eligible to take part on the same basis as secular organizations."Nonsense. The audacity of that argument notwithstanding, the separation of church and state forbids special treatment for religious groups.

All groups are able to receive federal Head Start funds on the condition that they do not discriminate against employees or children. Being held to the same standard as everyone else is equality, right? It sounds like the Bush administration already has what it's asking for.

No, what the administration wants is special treatment for its friends in the church.