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Votes on the Non-Consensus Reform Report Issues

Summary: 
Melissa Rogers provides an update on the current tallies of votes on the non-consensus reform report issues and making it public for transparency requirements.

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you are doing well.   We want to provide you with the current tallies of our votes on the non-consensus Reform Report issues, while simultaneously making that information public, consistent with transparency requirements.  We still await one Council member’s vote – he is out of the country this week.  But all of the other votes are in, and they are listed below.  The votes in favor of each answer are listed below the answer.   This information is being simultaneously posted on the White House Partnerships Blog.

Please let me know if you have any questions about these issues.  We will give you and the public the final vote tallies once we have them.   Thanks again for your work.

Best regards,

Melissa

1. Should the government allow nongovernmental providers of federally funded social services to provide those services in rooms that contain religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols?

a. No.  Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to permit nongovernmental organizations to offer federally funded programming only in areas devoid of religious art, scripture, messages, or symbols.

2 votes – Fred Davie and Nancy Ratzan

b.Amend existing regulations, guidance, and an executive order to allow federally funded programming in areas with these religious items only when there is no available space in the organizations’ offices without these items and when removing or covering such displays would be infeasible (e.g., where it would take great effort to remove or cover a religious icon mounted high on a wall or remove or cover a large statute).  If these measures are not feasible and beneficiaries object to the presence of such symbols, beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object.  (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29.)

7 votes – Anju Bhargava, Peg Chemberlin, Harry Knox, Eboo Patel, David Saperstein, Bill Shaw, and Sharon Watkins

c. Yes.  Neither require nor encourage the removal of religious symbols where services subsidized by federal grant or contact funds are provided, but instead encourage all providers to be sensitive to, and to accommodate where feasible, those beneficiaries who may object to the presence of religious symbols.  If these voluntary measures do not meet the objections of the beneficiaries, those beneficiaries must have access to an alternative provider to which they do not object.  (See Reform Report Recommendation 10: Assure the Religious Liberty Rights of the Clients and Beneficiaries of Federally Funded Programs by Strengthening Appropriate Protections, pages 27-29 of the Reform Report.)

14 votes – Charles Blake, Noel Castellanos, Arturo Chavez, Nathan Diament, Joel Hunter, Vashti McKenzie, Dalia Mogahed, Frank Page, Anthony Picarello, Melissa Rogers, Richard Stearns, Larry Snyder, Judy Vredenburgh, and Jim Wallis

1 abstention – Diane Baillargeon

2. Should the government require houses of worship to form separate corporations to receive direct federal social service funds? 

a. Yes, the government should require houses of worship that wish to receive direct federal social service funds to establish separate corporations as a necessary means for achieving church-state separation and protecting religious autonomy, while also urging states to reduce any unnecessary administrative costs and burdens associated with attaining this status.

11 votes -- Anju Bhargava,  Charles Blake, Fred Davie, Harry Knox, Vashti McKenzie, Nancy Ratzan, Melissa Rogers, David Saperstein, Bill Shaw, Jim Wallis, and Sharon Watkins

b. No, the government should not require separate incorporation, because it is not always the best means to achieve these goals, and because it may be prohibitively costly and onerous, particularly for smaller organizations, resulting in the disruption and deterrence of effective and constitutionally permissible relationships.

12 votes – Noel Castellanos, Arturo Chavez, Peg Chemberlin, Nathan Diament, Joel Hunter, Dalia Mogahed, Frank Page, Eboo Patel, Anthony Picarello, Larry Snyder, Richard Stearns, and Judy Vredenburgh

1 abstention – Diane Baillargeon

Melissa Rogers is the chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships