E-Newsletter for October 21, 2008

In this issue:

• Justice Department Decision Could Extend Religious Hiring Rights
• Presidential Candidates Spar Over School Vouchers
• Court: Taxpayers May Not Seek Restitution for Ended Program
• Digest of Federal Grants with Faith-Based and Community Organization Eligibility
• Digest of Current Faith-Based News Stories

New! Justice Department Decision Could Extend Religious Hiring Rights

A Justice Department opinion published last week has renewed the debate at the center of the Bush
Administration’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative – a controversy that has even made it to the
2008 presidential campaigns – over whether religious organizations should retain the right to employ
only those of their own faith when the positions are funded with tax dollars. In a just-published
memorandum revealing a June 2007 opinion, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
determined that a federal grant program could exempt a Christian relief organization from a prohibition
against hiring only those of its own faith under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
The determination meant that World Vision could keep $1.5 million in grant money, awarded in 2005,
for anti-gang programs, while continuing its practice of hiring only Christians. While the opinion deals
narrowly with the facts of one religious organization provided funds through one federal program, the
implications of the OLC memo could be far-reaching, according to Robert W. Tuttle, a law professor at
George Washington University and co-director of legal research for the Roundtable on Religion and
Social Welfare Policy. It could serve as justification for federal agencies to override laws that currently
prohibit religious hiring preferences in certain grant programs.

Click here to read more by Roundtable Correspondent Claire Hughes.

Click here for a roundup of other news stories on this issue.

New! Presidential Candidates Spar Over School Vouchers

In the third and final presidential debate last week, candidates Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen.
John McCain (R-AZ) discussed the future of American education and sparred over the use of vouchers
that give public money to low-income families to send their children to private schools, including religious
institutions. McCain supports vouchers; Obama opposes them. President George W. Bush has endorsed
school vouchers as one method to reverse a decline in inner city religious schools as part of his Faith-
Based and Community Initiative.

During the debate, both candidates discussed a five-year-old pilot voucher program in Washington, D.C.,
the first federal initiative that commits taxpayer dollars to private school tuition. Study results of the D.C.
voucher program have been mixed. Students in the program generally scored no better on reading and
math tests after two years than their public school peers, according to a June U.S. Department of Education
study. Other surveys of the program showed that some parents participating in the program were pleased
with their children’s new schools and supported the program.

"I've got to tell you that vouchers, where they are requested and where they are agreed to, are a good and
workable system. And it’s been proven," McCain said during the debate at Hofstra University. His education
plan calls for more vouchers only in D.C.

Obama said he disagrees with McCain about vouchers and that McCain’s plan leaves parents not living in
D.C. without education reform. “Where we disagree is on the idea that we can somehow … give vouchers as
a way of securing the problems in our education system,” Obama said. “I disagree with him on this, because
the data doesn't show that it actually solves the problem.”

Click here for more on vouchers and indirect government financing of faith-based groups.

New! Court: Taxpayers May Not Seek Restitution for Ended Program

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, in a case known as Laskowski v. Spellings, that taxpayers
may not seek restitution of spent federal funds provided to the University of Notre Dame for a teacher
training program that has ended. The case involved a grant of slightly under $500,000 to Notre Dame from
the U.S. Department of Education for a program called the Alliance for Catholic Education. Teachers trained
in this program went on to teach in Catholic schools, and frequently participated in an Americorps program
for placing teachers in schools located in economically deprived areas. Several taxpayers brought suits
against the Secretary of Education, alleging that the grant to Notre Dame violated the Establishment Clause
because the subgrants either directly supported religious training, or were not subject to adequate
safeguards to prevent diversion to religious activities.

The new decision followed a reconsideration by the 7th Circuit following the Supreme Court’s decision in Hein
v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, which limited the right (or “standing”) of taxpayers to challenge
government actions that allegedly violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (“Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion”).

Click here to read the opinion.

Click here for a resource page on Hein v. FFRF.

Weekly Digest of Federal Grants with Faith-Based and Community
Organization Eligibility

The grant opportunities this week for community and faith-based organizations are through programs
administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and by the U.S. Agency for
International Development.

Potential applicants should be aware that some grant programs require specific technical expertise,
or experience in particular foreign countries.

Click here for the grants digest.

Roundtable Digest of Current Faith-Based News Stories

Redeem Vote Works to Build Faith-Based Voter Registration
Postcrescent.com (Wisconsin)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8983

Philly Congregants Toss a Lifeline To Galveston
The Jewish Exponent

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9003

New Gate Director Works to Turn Local Youth Toward Faith, Education and Good Character
The Free Press (Kinstin, North Carolina)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8984

Citizen Activists Target Health Care And Economic Reforms
Tonawanda News (North Tonawanda, New York)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8985

Evangelicals Gathering To Combat Poverty;
The Christian Community Development Association Chose Miami Because Of The City's Diversity
The Miami Herald

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8986

Activists See Political Opening for Poverty
Ohio.com

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8987

Keeping the Faith During Bad Times
news-record.com

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8988

Faith Groups Join Immigration Debate
Kentucky.com

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8989

Habitat For Humanity Seeks 200 More Volunteers For Big Project
Highlands Today (Sebring, Florida)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8990

Obama Questioned On Vouchers
The National Journal

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8991

People Have Duty To Care For Earth, Summit Speakers Say
The Grand Rapids Press

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8992

Parking Meters To Help Homeless
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8993

Faith Based Group Wants City to Press for Oversight of Absentee Landlords
The Buffalo News (New York)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8994

Corzine: We Must Resolve Problem of Homelessness
Daily Record (New Jersey)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8995

Hard Times Accelerate Help Requests
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8996

Community Foundation Launches 'Help Your Neighbor' Campaign
Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8997

West Linn Church Helps Out
The Oregonian

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8998

Red Cross Officials Express Appreciation
Greenville Herald-Banner (Texas)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=8999

Fighting Poverty With Faith
Center for American Progress

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9000

Rescue Mission Part of Study on Spirituality
Utica Observer-Dispatch (New York)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9001

Faith Leaders Stump For Amendment 59
The Denver Post (colorado)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9002

City Okays Homeless Regulations
Journal-World (Lawrence, Kansas)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9004

Lovelady Center to Open Thrift Store in Old Hospital
Birmingham News (Alabama)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9005

Uniting To Make a Difference
MonroeNews.com (Michigan)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9006

Church to Review Lunch Giveaway; Neighbors question program that draws 6,100 people a year
Daily Tribune (Michigan)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9007

About Project F.A.I.T.H
The State (Columbia, South Carolina)

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=9008

Weekly Opinion Roundup - 10/21/2008
The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/news_opinion_10_21_08.cfm