Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 2009 Page: 4 of 32
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4 I February 12,2009
TEXAS JEWISH POST & SINCE 1947
Obama puts off big faith-based decision
By Eric Firsgerhut
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When
President Barack Obama rolled
out his faith-based office, he
avoided making a decision on
the initiative's most contentious
issue.
Obama's executive order last
week establishing the White
House Office of Faith-Based and
Neighborhood Partnerships took
no position on whether religious
groups receiving federal funds
to perform social services could
take religion into account when
hiring.
Some organizations, includ-
ing the Orthodox Union, say
such hiring practices are essen-
tial to maintaining the religious
character of an organization. But
critics that include the Religious
Action Center of Reform Juda-
ism and the Anti-Defamation
League believe they amount to
government-funded employ-
ment discrimination.
During the campaign, Obama
agreed with the critics and
vowed to change the rules from
the Bush administration's back-
ing of religious autonomy on
employment.
But his executive order, while
stating that services paid for
with federal funds will be pro-
vided "in a manner consistent
with fundamental constitutional
commitments guaranteeing the
equal protection of the laws and
the free exercise of religion and
prohibiting laws respecting an
establishment of religion," sim-
ply authorizes the executive di-
rector of the office to seek the
opinion of the attorney general
on "constitutional and statu-
tory" legal issues.
"It's a very com-
plex, challenging
issue ... I'm not sur-
prised they wanted
to do it right and
not rush that."
Rabbi David Saperstein,
Director, Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism
A person with knowledge of
the administration's thinking
said the White House eventually
would announce some sort of
employment discrimination ban
on faith-based groups receiving
federal funding, but with the ad-
ministration still getting staff in
place, it had not yet prepared the
legal analysis to support such a
decision.
For now, critics of the Bush
rules say they believe Obama's
decision to punt on the matter
was simply an effort to be thor-
ough.
"It's a very complex, challeng-
ing issue that pits valid moral
principles" against each other
— government money should
never be used to discriminate vs.
religious organizations' right to
autonomy — said the director
of the Religious Action Center,
Rabbi David Saperstein, who was
also named a member of the of-
fice's 25-member advisory coun-
cil. "It's something scholars have
been wrestling with, and I'm not
surprised they wanted to do it
right and not rush that."
Abraham Foxman, national
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Rabbi David Saperstein was named to
the 25-member advisory council.
director of the ADL, also said his
organization was comfortable
that the administration was tak-
ing the time to seriously exam-
ine the issue and was optimistic
Obama would come down on its
side when making the final deci-
sion.
Foxman said the ADL had
hoped the new administration
would eliminate the faith-based
office, but "if they're going to
keep it around," setting up rules
on employment would help it "do
the least amount of damage."
"While I would have preferred
to see the president reiterate the
idea he enunciated over the sum-
mer, the question of how that
translates into actual policy is
still difficult," said Richard Fol-
tin, the American Jewish Com-
mittee's legislative director.
Some in the Jewish world felt
there might be room for some
sort of compromise on the is-
sue — for example, not allowing
religion to be taken into account
when an organization hires di-
rectly for a program receiving
government funding, but per-
mitting it when individuals are
hired for other posts.
For example, a church that
ran a soup kitchen in its base-
ment could not take religion into
account when hiring those who
prepare and serve the food, but
could when hiring the pastor. In
fact, some experts said, a blan-
ket rule that prevented any social
service provider that receives
federal money from taking re-
ligion into account for any job
could create problems for Jew-
ish federations and social service
groups, which would not want
to be forced into hiring a non-
Jewish CEO.
"Extreme rules" either way
"don't make sense," said Marc
Stern, acting executive director
of the American Jewish Con-
gress.
Stern speculated that the
Obama administration still was
figuring out how to implement
such a rule, and also noted that
the president probably didn't
want to take a strong stand just
yet on the employment issue be-
cause it could have alienated re-
ligious conservatives in the early
days of his term.
A supporter of the Bush rules
on employment, Orthodox
Union public policy director Na-
than Diament, was encouraged
that the new president deferred
the decision for further study.
However the decision on reli-
gious hiring ends up, Diament
said that Obama's willingness
to revamp, and not eliminate,
Bush's faith-based office was a
"rejection" of the strict separa-
tionist view of church and state
espoused by some on the left
and a sign that Obama is serious
about making religious voices a
part of the public policy debate.
The administration an-
nounced that the new faith-
based office, in addition to pro-
viding funding and assistance
to faith-based and community
groups providing social services,
also will look at how the country
can better address the issue of
teen pregnancy, reduce the need
for abortion, encourage respon-
sible fatherhood and work with
the National Security Council to
foster interfaitb dialogue around
the world.
Obama also established a
25-member advisory council for
the office to identify best prac-
tices, suggest improvements
and make recommendations on
the delivery of social services
by faith-based and community
organizations. In addition to
Saperstein, others already named
include Orlando, Fla.-based
Evangelical Christan Pastor Joel
Hunter, Sojourners President
and Executive Director Jim Wal-
lis, African Methodist Episcopal
Church Bishop Vashti McKen-
zie and Interfaith Youth Corps
founder Eboo Patel.
Saperstein said the coun-
cil reflects Obama's commit-
ment to create "a big tent with
a broad range of different" reli-
gious views. He emphasized that
his participation on the council
would "in no way constrain" him
or the Religious Action Center
from speaking out publicly on
matters on which they might not
agree with the administration.
TEXAS JEWISH POST$SINCE 1947
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Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 2009, newspaper, February 12, 2009; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188228/m1/4/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .