The following letter ran on the editorial page of the Washington Post:

Social Service Vouchers

Sunday, April 1, 2001; Page B06

William Raspberry [op-ed, March 19] seems to accept the idea that giving vouchers to social service recipients to use even at faith-based organizations would not violate the First Amendment. He used the argument that also has been used in support of school vouchers: that this would be like the GI Bill, under which the recipients could use the benefit at any college or university, including those that were religious. It is not the same.

As a Vietnam-era veteran, I completed my undergraduate education with GI Bill benefits earned as a member of the U.S. Marines. I attended Haverford College at a time when that institution was still affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), which it no longer is. But no First Amendment separation was violated because the money paid was an earned benefit to me, not to the college.

The key is that it was earned. It was one way the country expressed its gratitude to those who had served.

Neither educational nor social service vouchers qualify as deferred compensation for government service. One should not overlook that difference.

KENNETH J. BERNSTEIN

Arlington

© 2001 The Washington Post Company