Federal faith-based grants doubled in 2004

Faith-based groups received more than $2 billion in federal funding for the 2004 fiscal year, compared to $1.17 billion in 2003, according to statistics recently released by the Bush administration.

Since his first term in the White House, President Bush has pushed to give religious groups equal opportunities to compete with nonsectarian groups for federal contracts and has vowed to make sure the government does not act as a "roadblock."

Some of the federal funding was funneled through state governments. New York received the most of any state, with more than $150 million targeted to faith-based groups. Illinois and California also received more than $100 million for such groups. New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia and Ohio rounded out a top-ten list of states receiving the most funds for faith-based efforts.--RNS

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