Government funding for religious organizations providing social services is not new. Under current law, government support for religiously affiliated soup kitchens, homeless shelters, counseling and job-training programs is reflected in the provision of tax benefits for certain individual and corporate charitable contributions. In addition, religiously affiliated social service agencies, such as Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and Jewish Federations, receive very substantial direct government subsidies for providing a variety of quasi-governmental services if they operate under certain structural restrictions which guard against the possibility of any religious coercion. These separately incorporated, religious-affiliated organizations have played an essential role in combating poverty and providing housing, education and health care services to the poor, elderly, homeless and other people in need.

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