From the draft Democratic Party 2008 platform:

Faith
We honor the central place of faith in our lives. Like our Founders, we believe that our nation, our communities, and our lives are made vastly stronger and richer by faith and the countless acts of justice and mercy it inspires. We believe that change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up, and that few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. To face today’s challenges-from saving our planet to ending poverty- we need all hands on deck. Faith-based groups are not a replacement for government or secular non-profit programs; rather, they are yet another sector working to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We will empower grassroots faith-based and community groups to help meet challenges like poverty, ex-offender reentry, and illiteracy. At the same time, we can ensure that these partnerships do not endanger First Amendment protections - because there is no conflict between supporting faith-based institutions and respecting our Constitution. We will ensure that public funds are not used to proselytize or discriminate. We will also ensure that taxpayer dollars are only used on programs that actually work.

The Republican Party platform is scheduled to be completed at the end of August.

August 20, 2008

Editor: Stanley Carlson-Thies

Center for Public Justice

Satuday, August 16, 2008 Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain were separately questioned for an hour each by Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren about policy and character issues.

Each was asked if he would require faith-based organizations that receive federal funds to provide social services to forfeit their freedom under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to take account of religion in making hiring decisions.

Sen. McCain gave a strong No, saying that removing the religious staffing freedom would entail “a severe crippling of faith-based organizations and their abilities to do the things that they have done so successfully.”

Sen. Obama gave a lengthy response in which he reiterated his conviction that faith-based groups play an essential role in fighting poverty and other social problems, the federal rules should ensure a level playing field for all applicants, and faith groups should be able to select staff on a religious basis when using private funds, but also that federal funds cannot be used to support “discrimination” in hiring. He claimed that such a ban on religious staffing is a “long-standing rule.”