Obama's support for . . . .

Federal funding of faith-based programs:

Here is an article from The Jewish Week, discussing some jitteriness over Obama's recent statements on this mattter. All one need do is read the statements carefully, and you can see what they mean. The quote below is from the article itself.

Obama laid out principles he said would avoid crossing any constitutional lines.

“If you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them — or against the people you hire — on the basis of their religion,” he said.

He added that “federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples and mosques can only be used on secular programs.”

I believe Obama gets this issue right from seemingly opposite perspectives - one, he recognizes the need for government to meet its responsibilities to help those in need by providing adequate funding for essential services that are already provided by government agencies; and two, by recognizing that religious organizations play a meaningful role rendering similar services, at times in places that government agencies may not fully reach. To qualify, religious agency programs simply have to meet the requirements quoted above.