President Obama’s faith council is finalizing its draft report this week, and one of the key debates that emerged from the phone conference last week was whether there should be rules requiring religious groups to cover up religious symbols if they receive federal funding for services.

For example, if a church gets money for a soup kitchen, would it have to remove or put a cloth over all crosses, pictures, etc., every time it gets ready to feed the hungry?

That sparked a lively debate among council members that largely dominated yesterday’s two-hour teleconference. Melissa Rogers, director of Wake Forest’s Center for Religion and Public Affairs, who is leading the group tasked with solving such church-state issues laid out three possibilities the council could recommend:

1. Making such religious icons not allowed for federally funded services.

2. Allowing it only if no other religious neutral rooms are available and covering up such icons is impractical.

3. Not requiring removal of such icons but encouraging religious orgs to be sensitive about the issue.

That led to a lengthy debate from which no clear consensus emerged.