"The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another -- or even religious groups over secular groups," Obama said in a speech at the annual National Prayer Breakfast late Thursday.
"It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state."
The new Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will advise the president on domestic and foreign policy issues and to forge links with faith-based organizations overseas.
It will also seek to foster interfaith dialogue with scholars and leaders around the world.
The office will further provide support to women and children and address teenage pregnancy.
Obama's order also includes the setting up of a 25-member advisory council, of religious and non-religious figures, to follow up the office's work.
"No matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone," said Obama.
"There is a force for good greater than government."
The new office is an overhaul of the White House office established by former president George W. Bush in 2001 to promote his campaign promise of "compassionate conservatism."
Bush's office originally sought to strengthen faith-based and community organizations and expand their capacity to provide federally-funded social services.
But critics complained Bush improperly entwined the federal government with his own deeply held religious faith.
- Unity
Quoting a hadith (saying of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) and passage from the Jewish Torah, Obama said religion is a tool of unity among faithful rather than a tool of division.
"Far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance," he said.
"Wars have been waged, innocents have been slaughtered.
"For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness."
Obama urged believers of all faiths to set aside divisions "to lift up those who have fallen on hard times."
"No matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate," Obama told an audience of Republicans and Democrats, diplomats and members of the clergy.
"There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know."
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