Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 18, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published an article about the Jewish response to Bush's new faith-based initiative. Many Jewish leaders "remain guarded with Bush, who has...made his Christian faith a prominent part of his political platform. Both the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress oppose the president's plan... Yet, there is a growing minority of American Jews who... are 'pleased that President Bush is committed to increasing the partnership between government and faith and community-based institutions.'...These Jewish leaders ...are calling on the federal government to ease the Jewish agencies' secular responsibilities so that their co-religionists could devote more attention to preserving Jewish education, tradition and continuity." Secular responsibilities like running welfare programs would presumably be facilitated by government funds.