As part of Sen. Barack Obama’s “Enduring American Values” week, he made a surprise announcement that he plans to expand President Bush’s faith-based program.
Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives designates $500 million annually to religious groups doing charitable work.
In announcing his support, Obama said: “We all have to work together — Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim, believer and non-believer alike — to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family, said he has doubts about Obama's plan.
“President Bush’s program was curtailed because Congress wouldn’t allow faith-based providers to hire only those who held the faith upon which the service was based,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see whether the Obama program will resist the efforts of the ACLU and other Leftists, who always reject what they call 'discrimination' in hiring.
“Without the ability to hire freely, faith-based programs will fail.”
