Abstract
Since Charitable Choice was expanded in 2001, its implementation has
been plagued by questions. Members of Congress immediately expressed
hesitation about whether or not to authorize funding for faith-based organizations
(FBO’s) amid questions of their constitutionality. The Supreme Court has
similarly struggled, issuing conflicting rulings pertaining to the limits of free
speech and the separation of church and state. More recently, social scientists
have begun to question the claim that religious organizations are more efficacious
at providing social services. This paper examines these issues and concludes that
while religious organizations do provide valuable services primarily for their
parishioners, the balance of the evidence does not support the continued
expansion of the faith-based initiative as a government-funded method of social
service delivery.
