So lets have it out. Obama wants to take the 'faith-based', program started by Bush, to the next level. Obama Creates Faith Based Council
As Barack Obama has said many times, he believes that change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up, and few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. And many of the challenges we face today—from saving our planet to ending poverty—are simply too big for government to solve alone. We need all hands on deck.
I don't know how I feel about this. In Bush's hands this program sounded really scary but I trust a Democrat to see that it is not a slippery slope. That fact is that the US already funds religion (through tax breaks) why not organize and get more of a benefit for our money.
The key slippery slope safeguard of the program (from the comments - dansac)
The new partnership will not endanger the separation of church and state, so long as a few basic principles are followed. First, if an organization gets a federal grant, it will not be permitted to use that grant money to proselytize to the people it serves, and the group will forbidden to discriminate against them on the basis of their religion. And groups will be required to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws in their hiring practices—including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques will only be allowed to go toward secular programs. And Obama will ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.
Updated - 6/1/08 12:16pm - goObama
The Salon War Room has an entry that puts my mind at ease. ...Obama's Way Isn't Bush's Way
Re...Bush's Faith Based Initiative .vs. Obama's
So what happened? George W. Bush decided he wanted to rewrite the rules. His White House identified those safeguards and renamed them "barriers." To protect the First Amendment and the interests of taxpayers, the president said, was to stand in the way of churches helping families in need. The safeguards, Bush insisted, had to be eliminated.
Obama has identified the pre-Bush safeguards and wants to strengthen them, not abandon them.