Of course, government cooperation with religious institutions is nothing new. And charitable endeavors have been associated with religion for centuries. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Northern societies linked to churches established schools and relief organizations to aid millions of former slaves. At the turn of the century, religious groups set up missions in urban neighborhoods to aid new European immigrants, offering basic charity along with spiritual education. With the Great Depression, the ultimate burden of public services began to shift toward government, with a particularly strong role for federal agencies.
Charitable choice represents the final step in that process.
Section 104 of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act allows for houses of worship to compete directly for government contracts without having to set up a separate non-profit. While welfare reform made charitable choice into law, the 1993 book, The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky, catapulted the idea into the public consciousness. Olasky's premise is that real compassion must be personal, transforming, and spiritual. Without an element of spirituality, it cannot be effective. He thus contends that faith-based organizations should be the primary service provider of human services in the United States, because only they can meet the spiritual needs.