The Obama administration has released guidelines for federal funding to religious organizations; these guidelines were seven years in the making. Advocates for the Orthodox community welcomed the regulations, saying that they reaffirm the government’s commitment to its faith-based funding initiative. Many valuable clarifications are included that will help both organizations and recipients.

Until the advent of the faith-based program, introduced and signed into law by President George W. Bush, regulations governing separation of church and state prevented nearly all religious organizations from receiving federal grants for non-religious activities (such as social services). A key breakthrough of the initial program was that services that are secular in nature but provided by religious entities became eligible to receive funding on a par with organizations having no religious affiliation whatsoever.

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