Interfaith Engagement in Public Settings

Background

The Inspired to Serve pilot project was supported by Learn and Serve America, using public funding. This partnership called for being very intentional about both maintaining separation of church and state while also valuing free religious expression. This same kind of balance is appropriate when using many other philanthropic funding sources (many of which prohibit use of funds for religious purposes) as well as efforts to work across sectors in society.
 
The following tips grow out of the practical experiences in this pilot project. They in no way represent legal guidance. However, they may be useful in planning your own interfaith activities, knowing that you will also have to confirm appropriate practices with other stakeholders in your project.

Use of Federal Funding for Faith-Based Partnerships

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are eligible to participate in federally administered social service programs to the same degree as any other group, although certain restrictions on FBOs that accept government funding have been created to ensure the separation of church and state. Here are some of the current safeguards for equal treatment, based on our interpretation of guidelines that were provided with federal funding in 2006:

  • FBOs are eligible to compete for federal funding on the same basis as other nonprofit organizations.
  • FBOs may not use direct government funds to support inherently religious activities such as prayer, worship, religious instruction, or proselytization. Any inherently religious activities must be offered separately in time or location from services directly funded with government assistance and must be voluntary for participants.
  • FBOs retain control over their internal governance and do not have to remove religious art, icons, and symbols.
  • FBOs cannot discriminate on the basis of religion or religious belief in providing services to clients.
  • FBOs generally retain the ability to make employment decisions on religious grounds, even after receiving federal funds.

Examples of Applying these Guidelines

Q. We usually have prayer or a worship service at the end of a day of service-learning with young people. Can we still do that now that we are accepting federal funds?
A. If federal funds are used to fund the service-learning project (including staff time), inherently religious activities like prayer or worship must (a) be separated in time or space from the federally funded activities and (b) be voluntary. You could handle this by announcing that anyone who would like to attend a prayer or worship activity after the end of the project day is welcome (but not required) to join you at a certain time.
 
Q. Do we have to move the prayer or worship service to a different location too?
A. You could have it at a different location also, but that is not necessary.
 
Q. Is it okay to still use handouts in our work that include quotations from the scriptures of numerous faith traditions about the importance of caring for people in need?
A. Yes, as long as the material is presented as teaching about religions, rather than proselytizing, and presents multiple points of view rather espousing only one.
 
In our experience, interfaith engagement is much more likely to fulfill these guidelines, if designed thoughtfully and intentionally. Many of the restrictions on federal funding are consistent with a mutually respectful approach to interfaith engagement. However, there are areas of concern if and when young people participate in religious activities of a tradition other than their own, even for educational purposes. In our project, we sought to ensure that these kinds of activities, when developed locally by young people, were not supported by federal funding.

More Resources

Some of the following resources may become dated as the Obama administration develops new guidelines and policies through its White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.