Government & Politics: White House Releases Public/Private Guidelines
Last Friday, the White House released new guidelines on public/private partnerships between governmental agencies and faith-based groups, reports Adelle M. Banks. The director of White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood partnerships, Joshua DuBois called the new guidelines “an important step” towards clarifying what religious-based social service organizations can do (e.g. display religious art, scriptures and other symbols in their facilities) without jeopardizing federal funding sources. Yet the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says these new guidelines fail to address critical questions, most notably whether faith-based groups can discriminate in their hiring and firing practices.