Faith Based Initiative -- Continues and Expands!
Back in 2001, I believe, I was President of the Greater Santa Barbara Clergy Association, and we devoted a meeting to discussing the pros and cons of the new initiative. I gathered as much material as I could to share with the group of clergy (and ours was an interfaith group). At the time we didn't really know what this would entail, but it sound as if it would be an opportunity for congregations and religiously based groups to expand social service outreach to the community. Of course some in our midst wanted to keep the walls between religious and social outreach low -- others high.
As time went on it became clear that the Bush Administration intended to politicize the process -- whatever the President's good intentions may have been at the beginning. Now, with a new President, one who is in his own right religiously devout and committed to involving the faith community in solving social problems, the question is -- what will this look like?
President Obama has decided to keep the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, but he is also expanding it and changing its mission somewhat. He has appointed a new director, Josh DuBois, who ran his religious outreach during the campaign. He is also appointing a 25 person council to oversee this outreach program -- and the folks on it include people from left and right, religious and secular worlds. Amy Sullivan of Time Magazine writes:
With this change of focus and change of structure, it will be interesting to see how this all works out, but perhaps it can be a more useful tool for alleviating the ills of society. One of the potential landmines in all of this is the question of hiring -- Bush exempted religious organizations from hiring regulations, Obama signaled he would reverse that, but there is some confusion as to where this stands.
I'm watching it closely as another Disciples pastor, from one of our Black churches in Detroit, and I are in the early stages of a project that would partner our two congregations to provide instruction in computer skills to the impoverished youth of his neighborhood. Could this program provide funds for our effort? That is what we're wondering. So, we wait to see how things clear out!
With this word coming out, I'm wondering what you the readers think? You might read Amy Sullivan's Time Magazine piece first and then share your thoughts.
As time went on it became clear that the Bush Administration intended to politicize the process -- whatever the President's good intentions may have been at the beginning. Now, with a new President, one who is in his own right religiously devout and committed to involving the faith community in solving social problems, the question is -- what will this look like?
President Obama has decided to keep the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, but he is also expanding it and changing its mission somewhat. He has appointed a new director, Josh DuBois, who ran his religious outreach during the campaign. He is also appointing a 25 person council to oversee this outreach program -- and the folks on it include people from left and right, religious and secular worlds. Amy Sullivan of Time Magazine writes:
In the White House organizational chart, both the faith-based-initiatives office and the advisory council will fall under the purview of the Domestic Policy Council. That decision represents a significant shift from the Bush Administration, in which the religious-liaison operation was focused more on outreach than on policy generation and its stated mission was relatively simple: to expand the opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations to compete for federal funds. The faith-based discussion largely centered on the question of who provided social services, and Bush himself weighed in on the side of arguing that faith-based organizations could often provide more effective help than their secular counterparts.
Obama rejected that approach forcefully in a campaign speech last July in Zanesville, Ohio, during which he laid out his plans for a revamped faith-based effort. "We need all hands on deck," Obama said, declaring that the problem during the Bush years wasn't that the right or wrong organizations were applying for grants but that federal funds for social services had dwindled considerably. With today's announcement and the establishment of the council, Obama has also made clear that he intends to involve the religious community in issues beyond federal funding, including more traditional concerns like religious liberty.
With this change of focus and change of structure, it will be interesting to see how this all works out, but perhaps it can be a more useful tool for alleviating the ills of society. One of the potential landmines in all of this is the question of hiring -- Bush exempted religious organizations from hiring regulations, Obama signaled he would reverse that, but there is some confusion as to where this stands.
I'm watching it closely as another Disciples pastor, from one of our Black churches in Detroit, and I are in the early stages of a project that would partner our two congregations to provide instruction in computer skills to the impoverished youth of his neighborhood. Could this program provide funds for our effort? That is what we're wondering. So, we wait to see how things clear out!
With this word coming out, I'm wondering what you the readers think? You might read Amy Sullivan's Time Magazine piece first and then share your thoughts.
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