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eNews for Faith-Based Organizations
February 25, 2009
Editor: Stanley Carlson-Thies
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Religious Hiring Tussle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In announcing his faith-based initiative and its authorizing executive order on Feb. 5, President Obama specifically chose not to promulgate new church-state rules, e.g., on religious hiring, to replace those developed during the Bush and Clinton administrations.
However, Joshua DuBois, appointed executive director of the new Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, has stressed that the Office is specifically authorized to seek legal opinions (the existing policies, of course, received legal vetting) and that it will deal with the religious hiring issue on a case-by-case basis, as complaints are made or federal agencies raise questions about the rules or about the eligibility of applicants-a troubling procedure given organizations' need for certainty. Still, maintenance of the status quo is very positive for faith-based organizations that care about their religious identity and faith-shaped practices.
But there is no reason to be complacent. Opponents of Charitable Choice and the Bush faith-based initiative are not inclined to sit on their hands.
The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have called for the President to ban religious staffing when faith-based organizations receive federal funds.
The "First Freedom First" program of the Interfaith Alliance and Americans United for Separation of Church and State has gathered signatures supporting its five religious liberty principles, including that "American tax dollars should not go to charities that discriminate in hiring based on religious belief . . ."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is asking "every American" to tell President Obama to "fix your 'Faith-Based' Program" by issuing an executive order "barring proselytism and employment bias in all publically funded programs run by faith-based organizations."
The Freedom from Religion Foundation issued an Action Alert following the unveiling of the Obama faith-based initiative, criticizing the President for not banning religious staffing.
Similarly, the ACLU pronounced the Obama executive order to be "troubling" because, in not reversing existing rules about religious staffing, so-called discriminatory organizations will be able to access the extra flow of federal funds the President wants to go to private social-service providers.
People for the American Way advised the President to "stick to constitutional principles" by banning religious staffing by federally funded faith-based groups. Its president promised to work with the administration "to correct this problem."
Also troubling are press reports that the Obama administration is using "as a road map" the Brookings Institution recommendations on how its faith-based initiative should be implemented. Those recommendations were written by E. J. Dionne and Melissa Rogers, both of whom object to religious staffing when federal funds are involved, although differing about how to end the practice. Their report called on the administration to do a study of the topic to see how extensive the practice is. Note that Melissa Rogers has been appointed to the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which has the authority to commission such a study and to make recommendations. Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the Religious Action Center for Reformed Judaism, who supports the Brookings recommendations, has also been appointed to the Council. The White House pointedly said that both were church-state experts.
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A Persistent Religious Staffing Myth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Various editorialists, reporters, religious leaders, and action groups claim that, to ban what they regard as the immoral and unconstitutional practice of religious hiring by faith-based groups that receive federal funds, all that President Obama needs to do is to withdraw President Bush's December 2002 executive order setting out "equal opportunity" principles for the operation of federally funded programs. It is a convenient idea, because it validates the critics' view that the religious staffing freedom was created by Bush and can be easily abolished by his successor. In fact, no Bush executive order created the religious staffing freedom for faith groups operating federally funded social services.
The 2002 executive order did open up federal contracts for goods and services (submarines, mops, and research) to faith-based organizations that hire on a religious basis-changing by executive order federal contracting rules that originated in an executive order. But these contracts have nothing to do with federally funded social services to help people in need.
But if Bush did not create the religious staffing freedom, where does it come from? Religious staffing by religious organizations is permitted under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans employment discrimination. The freedom is retained by the organizations when they receive federal funds, unless the funds come from a program (such as Head Start) that specifically prohibits hiring on a religious basis. Most federal programs do not have such a prohibition. And there is no constitutional prohibition on religious hiring by religious organizations that receive government funds.
Note: since Bush didn't create the hiring freedom, we can be sure that many of the government's long-standing faith-based social service partners have always engaged in this perfectly legitimate and constitutional action. Indeed, they have said just that to the Obama administration, warning that if a sweeping ban is now implemented, many of them will no longer be able to collaborate with the federal government, casting federally funded social services into disarray.
For details on this and other aspects of religious staffing-court cases, policy changes, policy rationales-see the guide by Carl Esbeck, Stanley Carlson-Thies, and Ron Sider
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Worth Reading
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joe Loconte, " Faith-Based Confusion: Will 'charitable choice' survive the Obama Justice Department?" Weekly Standard, 3/2/09 issue Joe Loconte, " The Bully and the Pulpit: Religious charities should fear Obama's faith-based partnership," National Review Online, Feb. 18, 2009 Steve Monsma and Stanley Carlson-Thies, " A Promising Start for Obama's Faith-Based Office," Christianity Today online, Feb. 10, 2009 Stanley Carlson-Thies, " Faith-Based Initiative, Version 3.0," Capital Commentary from the Center for Public Justice, Feb. 13, 2009 John DiIulio, " Obama and the Faith-Based Initiative," First Things: On the Square, Feb. 6, 2009 Keith Pavlischek, " DiIulio on Obama and the Faith-Based Initiative," First Things blog, February 24, 2009 |
IRFA in the News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Stanley Carlson-Thies, president of the watchdog Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, called the council [on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships] 'a fair-minded effort' and said churches, religious charities, and schools should be on alert the next four years as the new administration comes to grip with 'religious practices that don't fit in the ACLU kind of mold.'" Edward Lee Pitts, "A Voice on the Inside," World magazine, Feb. 28, 2009.
"[A]dvocates such as Stanley Carlson-Thies, president of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, point out that most Americans don't view faith commitment as irrelevant to social problems. 'We should not only protect beneficiaries from unwanted religion,' he says, 'but also take seriously the many beneficiaries who value services that include religion.'" Joe Loconte, "The Bully and the Pulpit," National Review Online, Feb. 18, 2009.
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For further information:
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e-mail: info@IRFAlliance.org
website (under construction): www.IRFAlliance.org
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What is IRFA?
The Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance works to safeguard the religious identity, faith-based standards and practices, and faith-shaped services of faith-based organizations across the range of service sectors and religions, enabling them to make their distinctive and best contributions to the common good.
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