FAITH-BASED INITIATIVES: CONSTITUTIONALITY AND EMPLOYMENT IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Passage of faith-based aid to religious charities appears imminent and government barriers to faith-based organizations competing for government funding have been removed by executive order. The impact of these changes should be significant because today many thousands of religious organizations exist, employing several million workers. This article reviews the constitutional and employment implications of actual and contemplated initiatives that would provide such organizations with federal aid for nonreligious activities. In general, aid to religious organizations has been deemed constitutional as long as it is appropriately tailored and the religious organization meets certain guidelines. Faith-based organizations may discriminate based on religion when selecting those involved in ministerial positions. However, with respect to other positions, they cannot discriminate based on sex, race, age, etc. unless it is consistent with their religious beliefs. Thus their “right to discriminate” may not be much greater than that allowed to nonfaith-based organizations. Soon after his inauguration, President George W. Bush proposed that federal funds be provided to religious entities, because so many services they provide afford vital assistance to the needy and disadvantaged. These initiatives have long been suggested for a variety of other reasons as well: to utilize an existing social support pipeline and forgo additional government bureaucracy, to redress a perceived government bias against religious programs [1], to tap religious organizations’