wfn.org | UCC - Legal questions remain as Obama overhauls faith-based effort

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Legal questions remain as Obama overhauls faith-based effort

> Written by Religion News Service and Staff
> February 9, 2009

President Obama unveiled a revamped White House Office of Faith-based 
and Neighborhood Partnerships on Thursday (Feb. 5), but postponed a 
decision on whether religious groups can discriminate in hiring, an 
issue that has bedeviled similar government projects.

"The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group 
over another -- or even religious groups over secular groups," Obama 
said at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, where he announced 
the new office.

"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."

Obama has said his project will be a new and improved version of 
former President George W. Bush's Office of Faith-based and Community 
Initiatives, which was created in 2001. Like Bush, Obama created his 
faith-based office by executive order.

But Obama's office will be supplemented by new a 25-person advisory 
council. Leading the White House office will be Joshua DuBois, a 
26-year-old Pentecostal pastor who headed religious outreach for 
Obama's presidential campaign.

"Joshua understands the issues at stake," Obama said in a statement, 
"knows the people involved, and will be able to bring everyone 
together -- from both the secular and faith-based communities, from 
academia and politics -- around our common goals."

Obama said the office's top priority will be "making community groups 
an integral part of our economic recovery" and relieving poverty.

The office will also address teenage pregnancy, abortion reduction, 
and "support fathers who stand by their families," especially young men.

"There is a force for good greater than government," Obama said in 
the statement. "It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give 
back, this hungering for a purpose greater than our own, that reveals 
itself not just in places of worship but in senior centers and 
shelters, schools and hospitals..."

In a shift from the Bush administration, the office will play a role 
in foreign policy, the White House said, working with the National 
Security Council to encourage interfaith dialogue.

Thursday's announcement fulfills a campaign pledge Obama made in July 
to expand and upgrade Bush's faith-based office, which Obama had 
criticized as an under-funded "photo-op."

For the most part, religious leaders across the theological spectrum 
praised the announcement. But the new president has already backed 
away from one campaign promise, according to some scholars and activists.

In July, Obama said that religious groups will not be able to use 
federal grants to proselytize or to hire only members of their own 
faith. The issue presents a unique challenge for the president, who 
boasts a background in community organizing and constitutional law.

Religious groups say hiring co-religionists is essential to their 
identity and mission; others argue that federal funds should not be 
used to discriminate.

Shortly after this July 2008 announcement, the Rev. John H. Thomas, 
UCC general minister and president, commended Obama on his guidelines 
saying, "[The] proposal for a Council for Faith-Based and 
Neighborhood Partnerships addresses the key concerns that the United 
Church of Christ has set forth as essential criteria for an 
acceptable and responsible partnership."

In "Building on Faith:  A UCC Perspective on Charitable Choice," 
published in 2001, the UCC insisted that any initiatives seeking to 
deepen and institutionalize the partnership between government and 
faith communities honor certain criteria:

* The Constitutional separation of church and state must not be blurred.

* Initiatives to fund faith based organizations cannot simply be 
cover for transferring responsibility away from government, but 
should represent a true expansion of our national commitment to 
address poverty.

* No monies should be used for programs that include overt or 
subtle proselytism.

* There must be no preference in service based on the religious 
commitment of those being served.

* Anti-discrimination laws in hiring shall be honored by 
religious groups receiving funds.

* Faith-based programs cannot blunt the church's readiness or 
ability to speak truth to power as a prophetic voice on behalf justice.

* There needs to be adequate training available to ensure that 
government funds are used effectively and appropriately.

The executive order Obama signed Thursday avoids a clear statement on 
hiring practices, instead saying that the office may "seek the 
opinion of the Attorney General on any constitutional and statutory questions."

Rabbi David Saperstein, a member of the new advisory council and 
director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said "the 
hiring issue is going to be dealt with by Josh (DuBois), the White 
House counsel and the attorney general's office."

"I think it's wise to kick it over to the lawyers," said Mark Silk, 
an expert on religion and politics at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

"It's very complicated, but there's no question it's a walking back 
on his campaign position."

Church-state watchdogs are already howling over the lack of clear 
hiring guidelines and the new faith-tinged advisory panel.

"President Obama launched his faith-based initiative today by heading 
into uncharted and dangerous waters," said Caroline Fredrickson, 
director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil 
Liberties Union. "There is no historical precedent for presidential 
meddling in religion -- or religious leaders meddling in federal 
policy - through a formal government advisory committee made up 
mostly of the president's chosen religious leaders."

Of the 15 people named to the advisory council on Thursday, several 
are evangelicals, including the Rev. Jim Wallis, executive director 
of Sojourners;  Frank Page, the former president of the Southern 
Baptist Convention; and megachurch Pastor Joel C. Hunter of Longwood, Fla.

The panel also includes the Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic 
Charities USA; Bishop Vashti McKenzie of the African Methodist 
Episcopal Church; and Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, a 
Christian humanitarian organization. Council members are appointed 
for one-year terms.