The White House's Faith Advisory Council has been split into 6 task forces, one for each of the faith-based priorities laid out by President Obama. But the most controversial of all – the issue of whether religious organizations receiving taxpayer money may discriminate in hiring – has been removed from the purview of the relevant task force, according to the Washington Post's God in Government blog. The group offering advice on reforming the faith-based office will still have plenty to discuss in re-establishing the constitutional safeguards that were sorely lacking from President Bush's Faith-Based Office, but the discrimination question will not be one of them.
[T]he hiring issue is so complex, thorny and politically charged, officials have decided that it will get hashed out by the president's legal counsel and the attorney general's office, primarily. The task force charged with making recommendations on constitutional issues will focus on things like encouraging faith-based groups to form separate non-profits to receive federal monies (in an effort to keep secular and religious work separate) and making sure the groups are clear on what constitutes proselytizing.
The other 5 task forces will concentrate on: the environment, fatherhood, the economy, interfaith dialogue and poverty.
