Obama Endorses Current Policy On Faith-Based Hiring By Federal Grantees

At a Town Hall meeting at the University of Maryland this morning, President Obama was asked specifically about his administration's position on religion-based hiring by faith-based groups receiving federal grant moneys. Blog from the Capital reports on (and provides a transcript of) the Q and A. Obama has not rescinded Executive Order 13279 issued in 2002 by President George W. Bush permitting religious organizations which contract with the government to use religious criteria in their hiring. (See prior related posting.) Obama responded to the Town Hall question in part as follows:

I think that the balance we have tried to strike is to say that if you are offering - if you have set up a non-profit that is disassociated from your core religious functions and is out there in the public doing all kinds of work then you have to abide generally with the nondiscrimination hiring practices. If, on the other hand, it is closer to your core functions as a synagogue or a mosque or a church, then there may be more leeway for you to hire somebody who is a believer of that particular religious faith.