Although it is common to talk about faith-based organizations as a generic term, in fact the organizations are very diverse, not only in the kinds of things they do (e.g., health care, emergency shelter, or radio broadcasting) but in how the religion that animates them shapes what they do and how they do it. Different religious traditions, it turns out, produce different kinds of faith-based organizations-differing, for example, in the extent to which the religion is overt (e.g., expressed in particular religious activities) or is “embedded”: shaping all kinds of “secular” practices and policies.

These and other complexities of real faith-based service organizations in the United States were explored in a major research project, Faith and Organizations, headed by sociologist Jo Anne Schneider. A series of articles based on the project has now been published in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 3 (June 2013), Sage Publications. Check it out at an academic library or ask your local library to get it for you via Interlibrary Loan.

Also worth noting: a brief statement from the project about how public policies should take account of the real diversity that exists among faith-based organizations. Your humble editor and Jo Anne Schneider consulted with a range of church-state experts in drawing up the public policy statement.