Shows that faith-based schools and social agencies have been particularly effective, especially in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable. This work builds a comprehensive and persuasive case for faith-based organizations playing a far more active role in American schools and social agencies.

Foreword By Peter L. Berger Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Reaching Out to Civil Society Challenges to the Welfare State Bureaucratic Ineffectiveness Overstepping the State's Appropriate Limits Government and Education Administrative Decentralization Market Strategies Organizational Flexibility Controlling Faith-Based Institutions to Death 2. Strings without Money The Stakes in Government Oversight Oversight of Faith-Based Schools Faith-Based Schools That Resist Oversight The Scope of Government Regulation of Nonpublic Schools Interlude: Teen Challenge 3. How Close an Embrace? Three Ways of Understanding Government's Relationship to Religion Outside the Wall of Separation Faith-Based Social Services: Where the Wall Is Not So High Schools: The Unhappy Exception 4. Funding with Government Oversight How Much Oversight? Modes of Funding Contracting Vouchers Grants and Other Subsidies Shared Space Franchise Asset Sale Interlude: Neocorporatism in Europe The Netherlands Germany 5. Professional Norms Professional Norms and Government Semiprofessionalism How Professional Norms Developed Professional Training Professional Norms and Faith-Based Organizations 6. Employment Decisions A Tale of Two Cities The Right to a Shared Vision of Service Required Qualifications Interlude: The Salvation Army By Emily Nielsen Jones, Charles L. Glenn How Did the Salvation Army Become Different? The Salvation Army's Self-Understanding Elements of the Salvation Army's Persistence as a Faith-Based Organization Threats to the Salvation Army's Distinctive Mission Resisting the Lure of Popularity 7. Loss - and Recovery - of Nerve The Importance of Maintaining Distinctiveness When Sacred and Secular Mix Being Explicit about Identity 8. Recommendations 1. Should Government Make a Greater Use of Faith-Based Organizations to Provide Social Services and Education? 2. May the United States Government Make a Greater Use of Faith-Based Organizations without Overstepping the Limits Set by the First Amendment? 3. If it Makes a Greater Use of Faith-Based Organizations to Provide Social Services and Education, How Should Government Behave to Avoid Spoiling Their Distinctive Character and Contribution? 4. What Measures Should Government Take to Ensure That Making a Greater Use of Faith-Based Organizations Does Not Lead to Negative Consequences, Such as a Decline in Quality and Availability of Services or an Increase in Discrimination? 5. Should Faith-Based Organizations Seek Government Support for Their Social and Educational Ministries? 6. In Accepting Government Support, How Should Faith-Based Organizations Protect Themselves from Interference with Their Core Mission and Distinctive Character? 7. How Can Faith-Based Organizations Reconcile Professional Norms with the Maintenance and Expression of Their Core Mission and Distinctive Character? References Index

"This book has much to offer scholars and policymakers. The recommendations with which Glenn concludes are challenging and are likely to spark useful debate."—William Galston, University of Maryland, College Park"Glenn's argument is an impressive one, making a comprehensive case for a new relationship between government and faith-based organizations that will meet the Constitution's First Amendment requirements, protect the autonomy of the faith-based organizations, and answer some of the most important questions about the crisis of the welfare state and the relation of government to civil society."—James W. Skillen, Center for Public Justice

This book has much to offer scholars and policymakers. The recommendations with which Glenn concludes are challenging and are likely to spark useful debate. -- William Galston, University of Maryland, College Park Glenn's argument is an impressive one, making a comprehensive case for a new relationship between government and faith-based organizations that will meet the Constitution's First Amendment requirements, protect the autonomy of the faith-based organizations, and answer some of the most important questions about the crisis of the welfare state and the relation of government to civil society. -- James W. Skillen, Center for Public Justice