Blog from the Capital

Conservatives have found their avenue of backlash against Senator Obama's proposal to extend and amend the government's faith-based initiative: his reasonable insistence that federal money not be used to discriminate in hiring. Steven Waldman chronicles the outrage.

Writing that Obama's proposal was a "fraud," the Catholic League's Bill Donohue declared, "If a customer walked into a New York deli and said, 'Let me have a hot dog on a roll--hold the frankfurter'--he'd likely be thrown out. That's what the public should do to Obama's faith-based initiative: since he wants to gut the faith from his faith-based programs, he should be told to junk it."

Or, from Family Research Council's Tony Perkins: "Obama's interpretation would be a body blow to religious groups that apply for federal funds."

Worst of all for Obama, Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals -- a moderate -- said, "That's extremely disappointing."

The issue of faith-based hiring in religious organizations receiving some public funds is hotly debated, and is not a yes-you-can or no-you-can't proposition these days. Partially, it's complicated by the shift I mentioned in the post below from a prohibition on funding "pervasively sectarian" institutions to a prohibition only on funding "inherently religious" activities. Partially, it's complicated by the diversity of funding for which religious groups are eligible, and the leeway Congress has in defining the rules of the programs it funds.

The question here regarding Obama's platform is: what, specifically is he proposing in this area?

Surely, those who are now upset at his plan don't suggest he would overturn the Title VII exemption for groups receiving federal money. That provision ensures the right of religious organizations like churches to discriminate in hiring ministerial and other distinctly religious positions. So far as I have seen, nobody argues a church should be forced to abandon this "ministerial exception" simply for taking public money to provide secular services.

1996's welfare reform legislation specifically assures religious groups that they need not abandon their "religious character" for participating in federal contracts, and that they maintain the presumption of hiring exemption guaranteed by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Is anyone suggesting his plan would eliminate those provisions? Congress still has the right to specify that certain programs - like Head Start - do not allow for discrimination in hiring. That specification would certainly not be a new development.

I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong here, but Obama's basic assertion that discrimination with federal funds will not be allowed under his proposal would not seem to alter the current hiring landscape for religious organizations. What it does sound like is that he would abandon the efforts of the current President (which were thankfully unsuccessful anyway) to pass legislation relaxing existing discrimination provisions for faith-based organizations. Given the Senator's prior votes to that effect, that stance should not be a surprise to any of the leaders quoted in Waldman's post.