Faith-Based Policy : Lexington Books : 9780739179024 : 0739179020 : 16 Dec 2013 : In 2001, George W. Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The driving force behind the policy was to create a ?level playing field? where faith-based organizations could compete on an equal footing with secular organizations for government funding of social aid programs. Given, on the one hand, the continuation of faith-based policy under Barack Obama and, on the other, the continued support by the vast majority of the American people for some form of such policy, the need has emerged to clearly understand what this policy is and the issues that it raises. Why? First, because the policy reveals new paradigms that explode traditional political and religious designations such as conservative?liberal or evangelical?progressive. Secondly, it is a policy which is setting precedents that with time will only become more entrenched in the institutional fabric of American gov