The Associated Press is reporting what I first reported here last night: that President Obama, in signing an executive order forming his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office, will not, as promised in his campaign, rescind the Bush-era policy allowing recipients of federal money to engage in discriminatory employment practices. Instead, he will delay resolving the question pending a legal review. The Bush policy permits recipients of federal money under the faith-based initiative to discriminate against employees or prospective employees based on their religion or sexual orientation. During his campaign, Obama pledged that, as a constitutional lawyer, he understood the Bush policy, to be contrary to the Constitution and would reverse it.

–Sarah Posner

Sarah Posner’s coverage of religion and politics has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Week, and many others.