FEDERAL AID TO RELIGIOUS GROUPS

President Bush has instructed the Department of Homeland Security to establish a center for faith-based and community programs that would make it easier for religious organizations to receive federal money, reports The Washington Post. Pressed by churches that had not yet received money for Hurricane Katrina relief and by the involvement of religious groups in providing aid in the Gulf Coast, Mr. Bush called on the department to eliminate barriers to religious groups receiving aid and asked the department to test programs, conduct outreach, and offer technical assistance to religious groups in cooperation with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Also: Religious charities that provide social services received $2.15-billion in federal grants, representing 10.9 percent of total grants given to social-services groups by the seven federal agencies that can provide such charities with money, according to a White House report obtained by the Associated Press. The number is 7 percent higher than in 2004, when $2-billion—or 10.3 percent of the total—went to religious charities.