London (CNSNews.com) - Secular groups in Britain are attacking plans to give government funds to Islamic and other religious groups that provide community services.

As part of the government's current drive to woo religious groups, the Charity Commission recently announced that it had created a separate unit to provide support to faith-based charities.

The Faith and Community Cohesion Unit, which reportedly will have almost $3 million to spend annually, will give specialist advice, guidance and training to the trustees of religious charities.

Commission chairwoman Suzi Leather said that these groups reflected the variety of modern Britain and were essential for building bridges across communities.

Government figures indicate that a minimum of one in seven charities in England and Wales are religious, with at least 25,000 faith-based groups having an income of $15 billion.

The commission reports that these groups are the fastest growing part of the voluntary sector.

Leather said that work would initially focus on Islamic charities. "Time and time again Muslim charities have asked us for help in strengthening their governance and tackling the lack of understanding and mistrust about their work within society," she said.

During a press conference in November, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the new unit also would keep money from flowing to terrorist groups.

"To ensure that charities are not exploited by extremists, a new unit in the Charity Commission will strengthen governance and accountability of charities," he said.

The National Secular Society has criticized the announcement, saying the proposal would simply help charities "to learn how to ask for even more public money."

Society president Terry Sanderson also attacked the commission for pushing to register mosques as official charities. "Certainly those mosques that have something to hide won't be rushing to register themselves as charities," he said. "There must be a more direct way of discovering what is going on."

A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said Thursday the new unit also would work with places of worship, such as churches, which are now required to register if they did charitable work.

She said that the unit was beginning with Muslim charities because Islam was now the second largest faith in Britain.

"The unit has to start somewhere," she said. "It can't start all at once."

In November, the British Humanist Association released a report warning about a growing trend of the government contracting out social services to religious organizations, particularly in the area of education, welfare and unemployment services.

Although the trend was much more evident in America, the association said, it could lead in Britain to non-religious people and atheists facing discrimination in the course of every-day life.

Early this month, the Department of Communities and Local Government announced a consultation on how the government "can work in partnerships with faith and non-faith based communities."

"Faith groups are a key part of the way we respond to the challenges we face from building strong resilient communities to tackling anti-social behavior," said the minister in charge of the department, Hazel Blears.

On Thursday, a spokesman for the department said he did not expect a backlash from people who do not want religion thrust into public life.

"This is building on the good work that faith groups already do throughout the country," the spokesman said.