In the United States, the term faith-based has come into public use as an abbreviation of "faith-based initiative", e.g. U.S. President George W. Bush's proposal to grant religious charitable social-service groups federal money via the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "Faith-based" is often used as a euphemism for "religious" in this context, in order to avoid the thorny issues of separation of church and state.

A faith-based organization, a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and U.S. to describe a particular niche within the Voluntary Sector. Generally, but by no means exclusively, a faith-based organization will be philanthropic in nature, constituted as a charity or non-profit, and aligned with one of the world's major religions. For many years faith-based organizations have played major roles in society, delivering a variety of services to the public, such as caring for the infirm and elderly, advocating justice for the oppressed and playing a major role as NGO's in humanitarian aid and international development efforts.

See also

• Samaritan Institute - A faith-based counseling organization

External links

• Faithworks
• UK Home Office
• White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
• The Faith-Based Initiatives Network of Texas, Inc.
• Texas town's faith-based prison plan questioned
• Charles Colson's Christian-based prison project on trial in Iowa