President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships has made public their votes on “non-consensus reform report issues.” For background on the Advisory Council and their work, see here.
Melissa Rogers, chair of the Advisory Council and Director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University Divinity School, has posted the final vote tallies here.
The first listed question considered asked:
1. Should the government allow nongovernmental providers of federally funded social services to provide those services in rooms that contain religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols?
Only Fred Davie of The Arcus Foundation and Nancy Ratzan of the National Council of Jewish Women answered NO to the above question. Here is their full answer:
a. No. Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to permit nongovernmental organizations to offer federally funded programming only in areas devoid of religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols.
The Advisory Council was divided 13 (yes) – 12 (no) on the question of whether the government should require houses of worship to form separate corporations to receive direct federal social service funds.
Here is the answer of those voting YES:
a. Yes, the government should require houses of worship that wish to receive direct federal social service funds to establish separate corporations as a necessary means for achieving church-state separation and protecting religious autonomy, while also urging states to reduce any unnecessary administrative costs and burdens associated with attaining this status.
Notable Baptists voting YES include the Rev. Otis Moss Jr of Olivet Institutional Baptist Churches, William Shaw of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. and Melissa Rogers of Wake Forest University Divinity School.
Officials from the Church of God in Christ, African Methodist Episcopal Church and Disciples of Christ also voted YES along with Jim Wallis of Sojourners.
And here is the answer of those voting NO:
b. No, the government should not require separate incorporation, because it is not always the best means to achieve these goals, and because it may be prohibitively costly and onerous, particularly for smaller organizations, resulting in the disruption and deterrence of effective and constitutionally permissible relationships.
Dr. Frank Page, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, was the only Baptist on the Advisory Council (that I’m aware of) who voted NO on this question.
Others voting NO included officials from the Christian Community Development Association, Mexican American Catholic College, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, The Center for Muslim Studies, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities, World Vision and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Also, the President-Elect of the the National Council of Churches voted NO along with Rev. Joel Hunter of Northland Church.
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