The U.S. government and faith-based organizations have worked together since the dawn of the United States. The same Congress that prevented the government from endorsing or becoming too involved in religious activities through the First Amendment also set aside land for churches in the Northwest Territory, later Ohio, in the 1780s. Funds to support recently emancipated people after the Civil War were often channeled through Christian schools and agencies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the wake of World War II, faith-based relief organizations worked hand-in-hand with the U.S. government to deliver aid and address hunger, poverty, and displacement around the world. In the early 2000s, the George W. Bush administration created its \u201cfaith-based initiatives<\/a>\u201d program, which made religious social-service providers\u2014including evangelical groups\u2014institutionalized partners of the U.S. government.<\/p>\n But in his second term, President Donald Trump has quickly signaled a drastic shift in this relationship. In executive orders, Trump froze federal grants<\/a> flowing to religious nonprofits; terminated refugee resettlement programs<\/a>, most of which are run by religious organizations; and suspended foreign aid<\/a> pending review. The Trump administration effectively dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which partners with an array of religious charities and communities.<\/p>\n People protest at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5. Drew Angerer\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The administration\u2019s efforts face legal challenges on multiple fronts. A federal judge in Washington<\/a> ordered a temporarily lift to the funding freeze that halted U.S. foreign aid. Meanwhile, religious groups have challenged the administration\u2019s cuts, arguing that they disproportionately harm vulnerable populations. In separate suits, multiple<\/a> faith-based organizations<\/a> have challenged what they say is the unlawful suspension of refugee resettlement programs.<\/p>\n Faith leaders fear that such measures are just the beginning of a larger realignment of the U.S. government\u2019s relationship with religious groups toward an aggressive attitude of brute force and domination.<\/p>\n Speaking to Foreign Policy<\/em>, David Beckmann, the president emeritus of the non-partisan Christian advocacy organization Bread for the World<\/a>, called on Christians to come together for humanitarianism. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to rally, put pressure on members of Congress, to have mercy,\u201d said Beckmann, a Lutheran pastor and former World Bank economist. He appealed particularly to U.S. evangelicals, many of whom supported Trump<\/a>. \u201cHow can you go to church and sit in the front row and support what Trump and his administration are doing to people in poverty and the vulnerable?\u201d<\/p>\n Stan Mooneyham, president of World Vision International, holds a photo of a Korean War orphan in this undated photo. Sygma via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Christian aid organizations and the U.S. government found common cause during the Cold War. According to Axel R. Schaefer<\/a>, professor of North American history at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, Washington always relied on U.S. religious communities to support its bureaucratic, state-building infrastructure. But this relationship expanded significantly after World War II, as federal funds flowed into building religious hospitals, universities, international aid organizations, and social services on a larger scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law, creating a systematic and sustained foreign aid regime and establishing USAID via executive order the same day. Government officials realized that they could not support aid efforts through public institutions alone. They turned to a wide array of nongovernmental organizations, and the state welcomed religious groups into the institutional fold. As Washington sought to stem the spread of communism worldwide, the government contracted with Protestant nonprofits, Catholic charities, and ecumenical church institutions to build out a social welfare infrastructure at home and abroad.<\/p>\n Church World Service (CWS) was one such ecumenical relief agency. Created in 1946<\/a> as a cooperative effort between 17 Christian denominations in the United States, CWS worked to provide food and medical supplies to communities affected by World War II in Europe and Asia. The CWS mission aligned closely with the aims of federal authorities, according to<\/a> its current president and CEO, Rick Santos. Finding gaps in service provision, organizations like CWS\u2014including Lutheran World Relief and the National Catholic Welfare Council\u2014worked to address the effects and root causes of hunger, poverty, and displacement.<\/p>\n Even more conservative Christians, who previously shirked close cooperation with the federal government and insisted on a stricter adherence to church-state separation, warmed to the idea of collaboration between religion and republic. They were motivated by U.S. evangelicals\u2019 virulent anti-communism but also a concomitant fear that Catholics and more progressive protestants would be over-represented in the post-war state.<\/p>\n Members of the Church World Service gather clothing and supplies for overseas relief in Denver in 1967. Ed Maker\/The Denver Post via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bob Pierce, a fired-up evangelical who was hell-bent on saving the world, established World Vision in 1950 after traveling as a missionary with Youth for Christ<\/a>. World Vision sought to raise funds for missionaries and orphans, using child sponsorship programs and passionate preaching to connect U.S. evangelicals to the world. Pierce led World Vision for nearly two decades before founding another aid organization, Samaritan\u2019s Purse, in 1970. In 2023, Samaritan\u2019s Purse received $53.55 million<\/a> and World Vision more than $661 million (nearly 45 percent<\/a> of its $1.5\u00a0billion budget<\/a>) in federal government grants.<\/p>\n Even as evangelicals warmed to the idea of working with the U.S. government around the world, they remained primarily committed to missions and evangelism, said Lauren F. Turek<\/a>, a history professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Evangelicals were less interested in assisting with structural issues and more committed to conversion and building Christian congregations abroad.<\/p>\n
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