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Barack Obama
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Tuesday July 1, 2008
Why Obama's Faith-Based Initiatives Matter
As Barack Obama has emphasized his life as a "committed Christian" over the past year and a half, skeptics have asked for evidence of how his faith would actually influence his policies as president. Some conservative Christian activists have urged religious voters to examine Obama's liberal stances on social issues like abortion and gay rights and to accord them more weight than his professions of faith. Faith without works, they say, is dead--and that faith without conservative social positions shouldn't be enough to win the hearts of values voters.
That's why Obama's announcement today about wanting to expand President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives into what he's calling a President's Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is so significant. Not only is Obama showing how faith would shape policy in his administration, he's being so bold as to criticize Bush's faith-based program for not going far enough in opening the federal social services spigot to churches and other faith-based groups.
In effect, he's out-Bushing George W. Bush in one of the President's specialty areas--connecting faith and public policy.
For Obama, who got his political start as an organizer in Chicago's black churches, it's difficult to argue that embracing government-sponsored faith-based initiatives is a matter of pure political convenience. John McCain, by contrast, has long held some socially conservative positions--his rigorous opposition to abortion rights, for instance--but has declined to frame such stances as motivated by his personal faith. If he were to do so now, he'd be seen as making a baldy political move.
So McCain is stuck making symbolic gestures about religion, like meeting with Billy and Franklin Graham over the weekend, while Obama is offering to strengthen a cornerstone of President Bush's faith and politics agenda. McCain is still struggling to adopt a religious style, while Obama has begun to hammer out a substance for his well-documented religious rhetoric.
Filed Under: Barack Obama, faith-based initiatives, John McCain
posted by Dan Gilgoff @11:19am Permalink 
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The God-o-Meter® (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other top-secret criteria (Actually, the adjustment criteria are here). Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly recalibrating!
God-o-Meter® blogger Dan Gilgoff is Beliefnet's Politics Editor. A former political correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, he is author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War.
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Comments
I've never been much for speeches. I'm much more interested in action. Obama has participated in a hate-filled racist church and consorted with terrorists. That's pretty much all I need to know.
There's an old saying: "I can't hear what you're saying, what you're doing is too loud."
Posted by: frgough | July 2, 2008 1:15 PM
frg
You been watching FOX"news" again, haven't you.
Don't beleieve them or any of the internet garbage. The church is neither racist nor hate-filled, and I think you will discover he has not been consorting with terrorists. But if you look hard for hate you will find it anywhere.
Posted by: jestrfyl | July 2, 2008 1:46 PM
Sad, sad, sad..... I thought Rove style politics was starting to end. Quick question.....
I worship a rare South American tree frog and was wondering if the faith based initiatives would help me fund my volunteer organization overseas. See, as a former Peace Corps Volunteer during the Bush administration, I am well aware of how Bush's faith based funding went to popular NGO's who refused to provide condoms to Africans while instead pushing the "Christian" abstinence approach.
That said... This is not the tree frog worshiper approach to ending the spread of HIV. Will I still be funded???? or..... Is this just a sad attempt to appeal to the ethnocentric Christian conservatives that have helped promote Bush's ideals over the past eight years???
Obama had me until yesterday. He appeared to be a true patriot that although was religious, was able to respect the boundary of church and state. Although he will undoubtedly win the election, now he is just another sleazy politician.
I never thought I would say this but.......
TIME TO SUPPORT NADER
Posted by: Matt Stevens | July 3, 2008 6:57 PM
This is a program that should be abolished, not expanded. So many dollars have been wasted already; it is time to get back to programs that work. I worked at an HIV prevention organization that lost it’s federal funding under Bush's current policy because we gave out condoms and taught young people about safer sex practices. Now our tax dollars are given away by the millions to anybody that will say the word 'Abstinence' – which is just not a reality for most of our youth today.
Posted by: Peter Lowery | July 7, 2008 1:51 PM
Quick question… Since Obama's faith based initiative will give money to his Chicago Church, could the money be used to infect white people with syphilis?
Posted by: Stevens | July 13, 2008 1:35 PM
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