Months have passed since President Obama's faith-based advisory council submitted reports suggesting a series of actions for the White House addressing several key areas of concern, including reforms aimed at ensuring constitutional safeguards are in place to preserve the separation of church and state. With no official word from the President's office, critics are getting more and more worried about the fate of these recommendations. Religion News Service's Adelle Banks reports that assurances are still coming that action will be taken soon:
According to an internal memo obtained by Religion News Service, the office is drafting an executive order to implement recommendations on internal reforms, which advisers had hoped would address church-state concerns.
DuBois declined to specify the nature of the reforms, but said, "I think you will see the exact form of that implementation soon. We're working diligently on this."
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Melissa Rogers, a church-state expert who chaired the advisory council, said the office has moved to implement some of the council's goals; she remains hopeful that the recommendations on "much needed reform of the church-state rules" will be acted on soon."The White House has been putting them through a process," she said, "and the process is near the finish line."
