Religion & Law

Obama Sets Up Revamped Faith-Based Office; Delays Decisions On Religion-Based Hiring By Grantees

By Howard M. Friedman

President Barack Obama today issued an Executive Order (full text) setting up the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships as the successor to the Bush administration's Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. Several paragraphs were added to the section of the Bush Executive Order expanding the functions of the Office. Among the additions are "ensur[ing] that services paid for with Federal Government funds are provided in a manner consistent with fundamental constitutional commitments guaranteeing the equal protection of the laws and the free exercise of religion and prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion."

The Executive Order creates a new President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships made up of not more than 25 members. In a separate announcement, the President today named the first 15 members. They are a diverse group, including some individuals from secular social service agencies, as well as religious ones. A number of Protestant clergy, an academic (Melissa Rogers of Wake Forest University), and the president of Catholic Charities USA are among the Council members. As previously announced, the President also appointed Joshua DuBois as Director of the new office. (See prior posting.)

One provision in the Executive Order allows the White House to submit to the Attorney General constitutional and statutory questions on whether existing or prospective grants and practices are consistent with law. This reflects the President's decision not to issue a blanket regulation on whether recipients of faith-based funding can hire on religious grounds. Instead, as reported today by Politico, it will consider the issue on a case-by-case basis. According to US News, this is consistent with a report issued by the Brookings Institution last December (full text) that called for further study of the issue based on better data. (See prior related posting.)

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 05, 2009 (boomark / email).