This week, the Obama administration took the first positive steps to reform faith-based initiatives within the government. These initial reforms go a long way to protecting the wall of separation between church and state and protecting the religious freedoms of the faith-based groups and the beneficiaries who use the services. I am hoping more reform is coming.
In his speech at the Republican National Convention, Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan brought out the old trope about depending on churches and other faith charities to take care of the needy so he and Romney can gut the social safety net like food stamps and medicare. His idea, the common conservative wet dream, would actually be very bad for churches and other faith based charities who are already strained by the result of the economic meltdown of 2008 and the slow recovery.
During the campaign President Barack Obama promised to change how the federal government gave money to religious groups. While he did change the title of the office created under President Bush, he has yet to remove the rules and regulations that allowed religious groups to discriminate when getting federal grant money.
The first court challenge to President Bush’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives ended on a technicality according to the US Supreme Court. It said that since the funding wasn’t from Congress then the public have no standing to challenge it.
One of the main complaints coming from supporters of the separation of church and state was the Bush administrations support for faith-based initiatives. The initiatives were a series of laws, rule changes, and government funding for church based social programs. A recent media report and a book to be published on Monday put a spot light on the special status religion enjoys within the federal government and how faith-based initiatives were used as a political ploy by the White House.