Study of Black Churches and Faith-Based Initiative

Last Tuesday, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies published a report on Black churches and President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative. A release by the Center summarizes the study's major findings. Only 2.4% of the Black churches surveyed received any faith-based funding. Interestingly, of the Black churches that did receive such funding 47% were from the Northeast, and only 26% were from southern states. African-American churches in states that voted Democratic in the last two presidential elections were more likely to get faith-based grants than were churches in states that voted Republican. The study found that liberal and progressive churches were more interested in participating in the Faith Based initiative than were conservative ones, even though conservative churches viewed the Faith Based Initiative more favorably. And the report concluded that there had been insufficient outreach to Black churches about the Faith Based Initiative. Newhouse Newspapers yesterday reported on the study.