Religious Charities and Government Funding

Abstract

The government has the responsibility of providing a social service to its citizens. It decides whether to award funds to a religious nonprofit, secular nonprofit, or to produce the service itself. Religious charities are willing to provide the service at lower costs if they can use the funds as an opportunity to proselytize their doctrine. This proselytizing alters the religious preferences of believers in society. In a situation of equal grants to religious charities, this has the consequence of reducing the number of extremists. Furthermore, conservative religious denominations may discriminate against non-religious individuals in the provision of the social service.