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» Student Worksheet

Background: Through a series of executive orders (see the Glossary of Key Terms and Ideas to review what an executive order is,) President Bush has opened the possibility for "faith-based" groups to receive United States government funds to provide social services. "The Jesus Factor" notes that to date almost 100 percent of groups receiving federal funds are Christian.

1. Executive Order 13199 created the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives on Jan. 29, 2001. Executive Order 13279 requires equal protection for faith-based and community organizations as of Dec. 12, 2002. Read each of these executive orders, which can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/executive-orders.html

Questions:

• What groups are affected by President Bush's executive orders?
  
  
• What services will they provide?
  
  
• How do the executive orders justify assigning funds to religious/faith-based groups?

2. A report issued by the White House says that part of the goal of the executive orders you read about is "identifying and eliminating improper Federal barriers to effective faith-based and community-serving programs through legislative, regulatory, and programmatic reforms." Read the report at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/faithbased.html

Question:

• Based on your reading and discussion, write a short paragraph explaining what you think the report means by "improper Federal barriers."

3. Opposition to federal funding of "faith-based organizations" has come from a range of areas. Read the articles from the links below, and write a sentence or two for each article, explaining its main point.

• Conservative opposition: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/3/20/54802.shtml
  
  
• Anti-discrimination opposition http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/hamilton/20010802.html
  
  
• Civil libertarian opposition: http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0206/p02s01-uspo.html
  
  
• Atheist opposition: http://www.atheists.org/action/alert-08-dec-2001.html

Question:

• Based on your reading, write a short paragraph evaluating the opposition. You will use your ideas and evaluation in discussion.

4. Click on the following link to listen to "Ex-Staffers Sue Salvation Army over Religious Bias." http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=17-Apr-2004&segNum=8&mediaPref=RM

Question:

• Are the ex-staffers right? Write a short paragraph stating your opinion.

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