Faith-Based Funding Review Planned

President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the government's faith-based funding initiative, and changes could include a ban on federal funding of groups that discriminate on the basis of religion or other factors when hiring employees.

The Associated Press reported Feb. 4 that Obama has requested that the U.S. Justice Department conduct a legal review of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the successor to an agency formed in the Bush administration to facilitate grantmaking and support for religious-based charities.

During his presidential campaign, Obama said he wanted to expand the work of the faith-based initiative but objected to a policy allowing grantees to base hiring on an applicant's religion. Programs run by faith-based groups must also focus on secular needs and public funds should not be used to proselytize, Obama advisors said.

“As someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe this partnership will endanger that idea — so long as we follow a few basic principles,” Obama said in a campaign speech last year.

Joshua DuBois, a Pentecostal minister who worked on the Obama campaign, was appointed to head the office, and 25 religious and secular leaders will be named to an advisory panel.