The Christian Century

More than a decade ago, the faith-based initiative was launched in Congress with the idea of tapping the energy and genius of religious organizations, including congregations, to meet social needs.

The director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Jay Hein, has resigned to care for his ill father, who is battling cancer. Hein, the White House office’s third director, will leave August 29 and return to Indianapolis, said spokesperson Rebecca Neale.

Not many policy proposals from the 1990s can be trotted out a decade later in almost exactly the same form. But Barack Obama’s plan to launch his own faith-based initiative closely echoes proposals endorsed years ago by Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Adopting a federal program criticized strongly by some liberals, Senator Barack Obama says he would expand and improve President Bush’s initiative to fund religious charities and community ministries and make it central to his administration should he reach the White House.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments February 28 in a case that, on the surface, is about technical issues but could end up having significant ramifications for the way courts handle church-state cases. At stake is the ability of federal courts to hear cases challenging whether a government action favors one religion over another or religion over nonreligion.

For the first time, the Supreme Court will hear a case directly related to President Bush’s faith-based initiative, his attempt to expand the government’s ability to fund social services through churches and other religious charities.

A book by a former White House official is causing shock waves with its explosive allegations that President Bush’s aides mocked religious conservatives and duped them for political gain in the early stages of the faith-based grant programs.

Only a tiny fraction of black churches have received money to help the poor as a result of the Bush administration’s federal faith-based initiative, and most of those tend to be liberal in their theology and located in the Northeast.

A national watchdog group has filed its first lawsuit to halt a federal government faith-based grant—in this case, to a Washington state program that offers Bible-based marriage workshops.