Nearly seven years in the making, the federal government has issued rules intended to allow faith-based organizations as well as neighborhood groups to apply for federal grants and awards on an equal footing with other nonprofits.

A 304-page set of rules was issued in late March outlining the details for how nine Cabinet-level agencies — the ones most likely to issue grant money — are to treat funding requests from faith-based and other groups.

Those who have seen the rules say they maintain protections against bias not only toward the faith-based groups, but also toward the recipients of the services rendered by those groups with the federal funds won, so that recipients do not feel coerced into religious activity as a condition for their receiving services.

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