By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A group that advocates for the separation of church and state wants Arkansas officials to investigate whether a preschool owned by a state legislator is using taxpayer dollars to promote religion.

State Rep. Justin Harris

A spokesman for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said today the Washington-based organization sent a letter Tuesday to the Arkansas Department of Human Services and the Arkansas Department of Education asking for an investigation of Growing God’s Kingdom in West Fork, which is owned by state Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork.

Spokespeople for the Human Services and Education departments said today that officials at those agencies had not seen the letter.

DHS spokeswoman Amy Webb said once the department does receive the letter, it will initiate an investigation.

The group says that since 2005 the preschool has received more than $1 million from the Arkansas Better Chance program, which provides state funds to pre-kindergarten programs across Arkansas. ABC is primarily funded with state money but also receives some federal dollars.

“We have strong reasons to believe, based upon numerous documents received in response to public records requests, that the provision of ABC funds to Growing God’s Kingdom violates the U.S. Constitution,” the group said in its letter, first reported by the Arkansas Times blog.

The group noted that the preschool’s staff handbook instructs staff members to “share the love of Jesus with these children” and “teach them the word of God.” Also, a handbook provided to parents advises that the preschool strives to “ensure that your child feels the love of Jesus Christ,” and internal records show that “Bible time” is a part of the curriculum.

“At the very least, the Growing God’s Kingdom school should be required to stop injecting religion into the government-funded portion of the program,” Rob Boston, a spokesman for the group, said in an interview.

But Boston said that in some cases it may be impossible to separate the two.

“Some of these entities are just subsumed with religion, and they speak very openly about that,” he said. “It’s not possible to separate the religious elements because the entire program is religious.”

Boston said the group often files lawsuits against entities it believes are violating the Constitution, but its policy is to “open a dialogue” before resorting to legal action.

Harris said Thursday that in his view, separation of church and state exists “to protect the people from tyranny, from being forced to believe a certain way and to have a certain religion.”

“That’s where I think the separation comes in. I don’t think the separation eliminates the government from having Christianity part of it,” he said.

Harris said his preschool is not exclusively for Christian children — the children it serves include some from atheist homes, he said — but it is up front with parents about its religious aspects.

“You understand that you are going to get exposed to Christianity throughout the day, or just by saying, ‘Hey, you know, Jesus loves you,’” he said.

But Harris also said his preschool follows DHS rules for the ABC program. According to Webb, those rules include a restriction against the use of ABC money for religious instruction or materials.

“We do work with faith-based groups. There are churches that have centers that have funded slots,” Webb said.

Harris said he and his wife, Marsha, support the Bible curriculum out of their own pockets, and regular audits conducted by DHS and ABC officials have not found otherwise.

“We feel like we have done all that we’re supposed to do,” he said.

Harris said he believes the Washington group’s interest in his preschool was instigated by complaints from his political opponents in Arkansas.

“It’s politically motivated,” he said. “If I wasn’t in the position I am in today, it wouldn’t even be an issue.”

Boston said he did not have any information about the source of the complaint regarding Growing God’s Kingdom, but he said that from the group’s perspective, politics have played no role in the matter.