Overview

The faith-based initiative is an equal opportunity reform of the way the government pays for social services that are delivered by private groups.  There is no separate program for churches and no new funding source available only to faith-based organizations.  Instead, the initiative is creating a level playing field:  it is ending the governmental bias against religious organizations but does not create a bias for religion.  The new standards protect the religious character of faith-based organizations that receive government funds and their freedom to offer voluntary religious activities.  But participating faith-based organizations, just like secular providers, have to meet the government’s accountability, financial, and performance standards.  And, in most cases, religious activities have to be kept out of the social services that the government funds.

For a beginner’s guide to government funding, read the article “Coming face to face with faith-based funding” from Church Executive magazine (Free registration required to access article).

Do the church-state reforms of the faith-based initiative—new standards like Charitable Choice and Equal Treatment—leave inappropriate restrictions on religion in place?  Are the other requirements that accompany government funds too heavy? Each faith-based organization must decide for itself. 

Complying with the government requirements may help your organization better manage its funds and improve the effectiveness of its services.  The government’s focus on reports and outcomes may spur your ministry to more carefully document the effectiveness of its services—and to make improvements.  Government money may allow you to serve a larger number of people, or to offer a wider range of services. 

The guidelines on religion may provide a welcome occasion to reflect on who you serve and just how religious activities can best support people wrestling with difficult issues.  Even if many of the rules are burdensome, by becoming one of the government’s service partners your organization will make it possible for people needing help to be able to select a different service provider—a provider that might be more effective than the ones available in the past, a provider whose values are more compatible with the convictions of some of those looking for assistance.

Or, your organization may decide that, despite all the reforms, participation would require giving up something vital about the organization and the way it serves people. In that case, don’t seek government support!  Instead, seek private funding that is less restrictive.

As Luis Lugo writes,

“Faith-based charities ought to be willing to engage the state with the confidence that they are equal partners in this enterprise, not just government contractors. . . .  Religious charities provide an immense help to the state by providing social services in ways that the state itself simply cannot provide.  This should instill in the organizations that make up the religious social sector a deep sense of the importance and uniqueness of their contribution to the general welfare.  It should also strengthen their determination, as they cooperate with various levels of government in pursuit of common ends, to guard jealously their religious identity, knowing that it is precisely because of it that they contribute to the public good.”  
    —Luis Lugo, Equal Partners (1998)

The faith-based initiative is not merely a warmer invitation from government to faith-based organizations to collaborate in serving needy families and communities.  Instead, it is a series of reforms intended to clarify and change the government’s requirements so that faith-based organizations can collaborate without having to diminish or set aside their religious character.  But not all needed changes have yet been made and not all officials have changed their practices to match the new standards.  The better informed you are, the better the judgment you can make about whether government funding is appropriate for your organization, and the better you’ll be able to respond if you encounter officials who insist that an organization like yours is just “too religious” to partner with the government.