The Success of the Faith-Based Initiative

Stanley Carlson-Thies, Director of Social Policy Studies at the Center for Public Justice, issued a commentary today praising the success of the Federal Faith Based Initiative. He calls it a great success story. I agree. While the initiative has not produced more money from the federal government and the competition for federal dollars is very stiff, I do think there is not as much attention from government funders regarding how religious our activities are. It is understood that Breakthrough is a Christian organization and that is OK. We just can not require people to participate in religious activities in order to receive services. That makes sense to me because I don't think religious activities should be forced on people anyway. The devotionals that we have in all of our program areas are always optional. That puts the onus on us to make sure the discussions are relevant and that our guests want to participate and they do.