Religious charities in ten states received 40 percent of the $2 billion in taxpayer money available to groups deemed "faith-based" by the Bush administration in 2004, the Associated Press reports.

According to administration figures, the list was topped by New York, Illinois, and California, each of which received more than $100 million in faith-based funding, followed by New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, and Ohio. In addition, international groups received a third of the available funding, the majority of it awarded through the U.S. Agency for International Development, while the rest went to organizations in the other forty states and three U.S. territories.

The Bush administration has pushed for years to give faith-based groups equal footing with nonsectarian groups in competing for federal contracts, saying these organizations often do a better job of serving the poor and meeting other social needs. Critics of the initiative counter that it blurs the separation between church and state and uses taxpayer dollars to promote organized religion.

According to White House figures, $1.17 billion was awarded to faith-based organizations in 2003. An AP examination of those grants showed that funding went to some programs where prayer and spiritual guidance were central to the program. But grants also were awarded to organizations that do not consider themselves religious at all. Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said some groups that did not want to be on the list were removed this year.