In Canada, Mr. Bush's initiative would be superfluous, because the government has financed faith-based organizations for most of the last 100 years without any worry that church and state were too close.

From 1814 until his death, de Boigne made many donations to the city of Chambéry, financing public and religious organizations, for welfare, education, and public works.

But they draw the line at direct legislative authorization to finance religious organizations.

A free-speech case from Wisconsin involves the mandatory activity fees used by many universities to finance student-run organizations.

And has it not occurred to you that Iran's mullahs has been calling for Israel's destruction since 1979, they finance terrorist organizations and treat half their population as non persons.

Chiquita representatives said that they were only financing terrorist organizations "in good faith", for the protection of their employees.

The New Market Tax Credit also encourages investors to finance organizations in low-income areas.

Unless people in small, meagerly financed organizations are eventually able to repair and upgrade their own equipment, the benefits of the Smart Neighborhood Initiative will be short-lived, he said.

Foundations may "look for more of the sure bets," established charities, rather than fostering experiments or creativity by financing small nonprofit organizations.

But no funds were actually transferred to the Palestinian Authority, because the banks handling the contributions are wary of running afoul of American laws against financing terrorist organizations.