By BEN SMITH & BYRON TAU - POLITICO
Added: Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:18:17 UTC

At least $140 million in stimulus money has gone to faith-based groups. | AP Photo

The stimulus bought Castleton United Methodist Church in Indianapolis a new heating and cooling system. In Laramie, Wyo., it bought the Church of St. Laurence O'Toole new windows for the Roman Catholic school it runs. And in Harrisburg, Pa., Christian Churches United of the Tri-County Area spent its $120,000 in stimulus funding on food and shelter for local homeless people.

"It kind of fell from the sky, and it was unbelievable that we had this much extra money," said Jackie Rucker, executive director of the church-sponsored nonprofit in Pennsylvania’s capital.

For many conservatives, the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as the stimulus is formally known, has been Exhibit A in their case against the Obama administration, a symbol for an era they feel will be defined by out-of-control government spending. (See: Biden: 'Recovery Act is working')

But the stimulus is also the largest-scale embodiment of what was, not long ago, a conservative priority: directing tax dollars to "faith-based initiatives," as President George W. Bush called them. (See: Obama to rename Bush's faith office)

The story of the Obama administration's large-scale spending on faith-based groups has been largely untold, perhaps because it cuts so sharply across the moment's intensely partisan narrative. And in fact, when the stimulus was being debated in February 2009, conservatives attacked the bill as "anti-religious" in its spending guidelines. (See: Mixed W.H. signals on stimulus)

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