Tag Archives: Topic: Faith Based Initiative

ACLU: “A federal appeals court ruled today that a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State challenging government funding of a religious group youth home in Kentucky can go forward.”

Proponents of homosexual behavior and the ACLU attempt to prevent faith based funding of KBH . . .

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: “Americans United for Separation of Church and State today challenged Illinois state government’s plan to distribute millions of dollars in state funds to religious organizations.”

Kathleen Parker writing in the Washington Post:

When George W. Bush introduced the concept of a faith-based office . . . you’d have thought Bush was trying to install a caliphate. Indeed, most newspaper stories focused on the blurring of church and state.

By contrast, when Obama upgraded and renamed the program . . . Few, if any, headlines questioned whether Obama might be using his faith-based office to advance liberal policies, whereas Bush was under persistent fire for allegedly pushing (horrors) a pro-life agenda.

Parker references the recent Pew Study: Media Coverage of the Faith-Based Initiative in the First Six Months of 2001 and 2009

Religion Clause Blog: “The Corporation for National & Community Service, a federal agency, yesterday announced that it has issued a new report titled Volunteering in America 2009 . . . ”

Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy: “Critics of President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative often claimed that it was not a serious public policy effort, but rather a political ploy aimed at pleasing the Republican white evangelical ‘base’ and poaching African-American and Hispanic pastors and voters from the Democratic Party. However, even casual observers should have known better. If the initiative was just about politics, why did some thirty-six states, led by both Democrats and Republicans, create their own initiatives, maintaining them even when state leadership changed from one party to the other? Why did the Pew Charitable Trusts invest in an eight-year project, the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy, to track the initiative’s goals, outcomes, and legal reforms? If the initiative was mere low politics, why did it spark so many books, journal and law review articles, and dissertations?”

Religion Clause Blog: “On July 17 the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Agency for International Development issued issued a report titled Audit of USAID’s Faith-Based and Commuinty Initiatives . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “Social activist Rob Sherman has written a top aide to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn urging him to exercise his line item veto to eliminate all grants in the state’s recently passed appropriations bill (HB 313) that are directed to churches, parochial schools and other religious organizations.”

Minnesota Independent: ” In a letter to Holder, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State argue that MNTC has used taxpayer money to promote a specific Christian viewpoint in its programming.” The letter.

Religion Clause Blog: “Interfaith Alliance president Welton Gaddy–a critic of the White House’s faith-based office– has been invited to become a member of the White House Task Force that is studying ways to reform the Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life announced yesterday that it has issued a new report titled: Shifting Boundaries: The Establishment Clause and Government Funding of Religious Schools and Other Faith-Based Organizations.”

LA Times: “Egyptians are cautiously rejoicing over the recent appointment of a veiled Egyptian American Muslim woman as an advisor to President Obama. Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed this month to Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.”

The Religion Clause Blog: “The task forces are on (1) reform of the faith-based office, (2) fatherhood, (3) U.S. economic recovery, (4) interreligious dialogue, (5) global poverty, and (6) the environment and climate change.” The post links to this report in the Washington Post which indicates: “But the hiring issue is so complex, thorny and politically charged, officials have decided that it will get hashed out by the president’s legal counsel and the attorney general’s office, primarily. ”

Religion News Service: “The council is charged with helping shape policy in four areas—economic recovery, abortion reduction, interfaith dialogue and responsible fatherhood.”

This Article in Part I traces the rise and fall of the pervasively sectarian test from its creation in the 1970s through Justice Thomas’s attack in Mitchell v. Helms, and highlights the ever-shifting standards and lack of clarity in this area of First Amendment jurisprudence. Part II focuses on the post-Mitchell confusion in the lower courts due to the Court’s shifting standards and lack of clarity. Part III examines the executive branch’s approach to the test as demonstrated in the Faith-Based and Community Initiative. Finally, Part IV considers the best hope to both eliminate the confusion in the lower courts and correct the flaws in the executive branch’s approach, by following the Tenth Circuit’s recent analysis in Colorado Christian University v. Weaver and driving the stake of neutrality through the heart of the invidiously discriminatory pervasively sectarian test

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday, March 11, will urge a federal appeals court to uphold the right of taxpayers to challenge …

The Religion Clause reports: “Today’s Windy City Times focuses on Obama campaign’s promise last July that the new Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (see prior posting) will not fund groups that advocate for anti-gay reparative therapy.”

ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND February 17, 2009 What’s Left of the Constitution? Faith Debasing Initiatives Watch the new video at www.telladf.org/left “What’s Left of the Constitution?” is a periodic news digest featuring Alliance Defense Fund legal analysis of proposals, policies, and …

Albert Mohler writes on his blog:  . . . For decades, many religious organizations have sought federal funding for social ministry programs.  The logic is understandable, and there is no doubt that religious institutions and organizations are often far more …

ADF attorney Steven Aden appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition (Feb. 4th) to discuss this issue: “Can religious groups that take taxpayer money refuse to employ people based on their sexual orientation and religious beliefs?”

I know from experience as President Bush’s first “faith czar” how thorny the issue of religious hiring rights can be, but I also know that it cannot be avoided, nor should it be. Indeed, like it or not, what faith-based will mean under Obama will depend in no small measure on how he handles the ideologically polarizing, legally entangling, and administratively intricate issue of religious discrimination.

Enews Park Forest:  . . . “President Obama launched his faith-based initiative today by heading into uncharted and dangerous waters,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “What we are seeing today is significant – a president …

AP: Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama spoke of how faith has often been a divisive tool, responsible for war and prejudice. But, he said, “there is no religion whose central tenet is hate” and all religions teach people to …

ACLJ: The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, today called on the U.S. Senate to remove a discriminatory provision in the economic stimulus package that unfairly targets religious activity at universities and colleges that receive …

Religion Clause Blog: “The White House has posted on its website for comment the Senate-approved version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (SCHIP).”

Religion Clause Blog: “The New York Times reported yesterday that Barack Obama intends to appoint Joshua DuBois as head of his Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships . . . “

The Religion Clause Blog: “Among the many items in the proposed economic stimulus bill, HR 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is a provision for funding of $100 million for grants to faith-based organization through the Compassion …

The Bush administration has widely been assumed to have significantly favored evangelical Christian perspectives and organizations in its policies. A corollary of that assumption has been that regime change would return us to our natural secular condition. Preliminary evidence suggests that the first is indeed the case (although the changes had been initiated during the Clinton administration) and that the second is unlikely.

This Comment argues that Fugitive Safe Surrender violates the Establishment Clause under current jurisprudence and that the program should be offered in a non-sectarian environment so that its tremendous benefits may be obtained through constitutional means. Part II discusses the creation and funding of the program, its implementation in two different cities, and President Bush’s faith-based initiative, which demonstrates his desire to allow programs of this nature. Part III discusses the three main tests under Establishment Clause jurisprudence and analyzes Fugitive Safe Surrender according to those tests. Additionally, Part III discusses how those tests have evolved and the role of public policy in Establishment Clause decisions. Finally, Part IV proposes reform for the program with an eye toward maintaining separation of church and state.

AP: The American Civil Liberties Union agreed Thursday to settle a lawsuit it filed against the state of Louisiana over unrestricted government payments to churches. The ACLU’s Louisiana chapter said the settlement agreement bars the state from funneling taxpayer money …

Greg Baylor writes on the CLS Blog: The Christian Science Monitor has published an article regarding the faith-based initiative under the Obama Administration. Our friend Stanley Carlson-Thies of the newly launched Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance is quoted extensively. Although the …

Among the most important recent questions under the Religion Clauses has been whether and when government programs that support private activities, such as education or social services, may exclude religious institutions or activities that include religious content.

This Note examines the status of taxpayer standing to bring Establishment Clause challenges following Hein.

A company that conducted commercial businesses to raise funds for a missionary organisation was entitled to the status of a tax-exempt charity, the High Court of Australia held today.

After a lawsuit by attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund, the Iowa Department of Administration has agreed to allow state employees to contribute to faith-based charities through its voluntary state employee charitable donation program.

APBNews reports: President Bush’s administration and a host of court rulings have indelibly altered the way that the federal government relates to religious charities, according to an analysis by experts on the subject. “The heart — the core — of …

The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy has issued this press release: A series of pivotal rulings by courts and regulatory changes by the Bush Administration have opened the door more widely to government partnerships with faith-based organizations, but …

More and more legal disputes about church and state in the coming years will involve conditions on government benefits – social services grants, educational vouchers, tax exemptions – that conflict with the tenets or practices of religious organizations that would otherwise be eligible for the benefits.

This week’s meeting of the United States bishops received a stern warning from the president of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum,” that charitable institutions that are recipients of Catholic funds must not sell their souls by supporting causes that offend Catholic morals.

Faith-based programs are advantageous and must remain a valid option in offender sentencing. This article examines the constitutional implications of sentencing an offender to a faith-based treatment program. Can faith-based treatment sentencing be accomplished without violating the Establishment Clause? This article proposes that it can.

The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy presents this Q&A featuring responses from: Jedd Medefind, acting director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: “A faith-based social service provider must separate any ‘inherently religious activities’—such as …

In a farewell e-mail, outgoing director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives Jay Hein announces his successor.

The initiative, which began in earnest last month, is the first formal effort under a broader plan Blunt signed into law last year to forge a close working relationship between the government and religious groups.

When I asked a former president of the National Catholic Education Association, it took several minutes before the notion arose: “There may be something about the fact that faith-based schools are,” he paused, “faith-based.”

Within prison, however, religious programs should not be linked to a prisoner’s living arrangements or to other material benefits and should be offered in a manner that minimizes state involvement and the risk of coercion.

The question is whether a religious organization should retain the right to base employment decisions on a person’s faith when it provides services with taxpayers’ money . . .

While the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. marginally cabins the application of this remedy to legislatively appropriated funds, a very real potential for abuse remains.

. . . my aim is to invite closer attention to the architectural framework of civil society and the state, and to the role of public-private partnerships in carrying out what I have elsewhere called a formative project of fostering self-government.

After a 10-year legal battle, a federal judge has dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against a home providing social services for at-risk children. The lawsuit claimed the home, Sunrise Children’s Services, should not receive partial expense reimbursements from the government for its needy youth programs because of the home’s religious affiliation.

A Kentucky federal district court dismissed on standing grounds a lawsuit by Kentucky state taxpayers claiming that the state violated the Establishment Clause by providing funding to Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children (KBHC).

Religious Freedom Unconstitutional Entanglements: The Religious Right, The Federal Government, and Abstinence Education in the Schools Naomi Rivkind Shatz, 19 Yale J.L. & Feminism 495 (2008) The continuing debate over sex education is currently being played out in school districts, …

Religion Clause blog provides links to numerous documents issued by the White House in connection with the report: The Quiet Revolution: The President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative: A Seven-Year Progress Report

ADF has posted this press release in connection with today’s Supreme Court ruling in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation. Howard Friedman also has this post discussing the ruling on the Religion Clause blog.