On the administration’s Faith Based initiative–a subject Obama introduced on his own–he was not as clear as he should have been. Specifically, does he believe faith-based organizations can use government funds to advance their faiths? Specifically, does he believe federal laws against religiously discriminatory hiring should apply to such organizations?
And so, you know, just to go back to our theme here tonight, people sometimes ask me, what do I think about faith-based initiatives? I want to keep the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives open, but I want to make sure that its mission is clear. It’s not to — it’s not to simply build a particular faith community, the faith-based initiatives should be targeted specifically at the issue of poverty and how to lift people up. And partnering with faith communities, I think we can achieve that as long as it’s within the requirements of our Constitution. We make sure that it’s open to everybody. It’s not simply the federal government funding certain groups to be able to evangelize.