Amos Zehavi, The Faith-Based Initiative in Comparative Perspective: Making Use of Religious Providers in Britain and the United States Historically, faith-based organizations made important contributions in the field of social provision, but with the advent of the modern welfare state their role diminished dramatically. Why has there been renewed interest in the United States and Britain in publicly funded faith-based social provision. Despite significant differences between the two countries, their governments have endorsed strikingly similar faith-based initiatives that have institutionalized the relationship between the state and faith-based organizations. The emergence of faith-based initiatives is one component of welfare state restructuring, more specifically, a response to the growing problem of minority social exclusion in urban areas. |