A LABORATORY OF BUSHISM:

Faith groups take lead as Gulf Coast rebuilds (MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, 2/17/06, Chicago Sun-Times)

With government agencies stretched thin by the huge scope of the Gulf Coast recovery effort, religious groups are shouldering a heavy share of the workload.

Amish and Mennonites are mucking out and rebuilding homes across the coast, with dozens living together at a religious-affiliated summer camp in Pass Christian.

''We feel it's our duty to do it because it's God's work,'' said King, whose volunteers have gutted more than 300 homes in Waveland alone.

Lutheran and Islamic groups are providing free medical care to thousands in Biloxi. Southern Baptists have cooked an estimated 14 million meals in New Orleans and other hard-hit communities. The Salvation Army has had roughly 52,000 people working in Louisiana and Mississippi since the storm.

Johnson, who had never met an Amish person before the hurricane, has come to admire their work ethic and respect their way of life, which shuns technology. ''They're probably some of the hardest workers I've met in my life,'' he said. ''You don't have to teach them anything. You just show them where the house is.''

Tens of thousands of volunteers from faith-based groups have poured into the region. That makes them a valuable resource for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps coordinate their efforts to avoid duplication.

Volunteer groups have been the ''only show in town'' as the work shifted from emergency relief to long-term recovery and rebuilding, said Ken Skalitzky, FEMA's voluntary agency liaison for Mississippi, Alabama and six other states.

''FEMA is limited in the amount of assistance it can provide a family,'' he said. ''There's been an incredible reliance on faith-based and other volunteer agencies.''

In December, FEMA doled out $66 million in Katrina-related grants for 10 social service and volunteer groups, including Catholic Charities, Episcopal Relief and Development, Lutheran Disaster Response and the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana.