It was not fast and it did not finish the job, but the Obama administration’s executive order clarifying policies on government partnerships with faith-based organizations is important. Largely based on recommendations of his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the changes will improve social services delivery and protection for religious liberty. Everyone who respects the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections should be thankful for this development.
The Obama amendments were primarily designed to shore up the legal basis of the existing federal policy, which was created by an executive order of George W. Bush. These amendments seem likely to reduce the risk that government money will be used to promote religion. Of course, the Bush order stated that federal programs had to comply with the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause. The Bush administration, however, was properly criticized for using vague, skimpy language that failed to sufficiently capture the Establishment Clause’s prohibition of government-funded religion. Worse, their weak regulatory scheme was often overshadowed by promises that government would fund what works — including those programs that were saving souls one at a time — and the often repeated but unsubstantiated claim (debunked even by the first director of President Bush’s faith-based office) that religious organizations were better at addressing social ills than their secular counterparts.
Tags: advisory council on faith based and neighborhood partnerships, first amendment, obama faith based office, religious freedom, religious pluralism
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