Scotty McLennan

By Scotty McLennan

Is there a new threat to church-state separation in America?  President George W. Bush launched a faith-based initiative at the beginning of his first term in 2001 to provide federal funds to churches and other religious organizations to address social problems (1).  President Barack Obama has declared that he will expand the federal faith-based initiative.

Obama has explained his views on church-state relations in some detail in a chapter entitled "Faith" in his book Audacity of Hope and in an speech he gave as a keynote address at the Call to Renewal Conference in 2006, organized by the Reverend Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourner's magazine.  First of all, President Obama wants us all to remember how religious Americans are as a people, with ninety percent of us believing in God and seventy percent affiliating with an organized religion.  He's forthcoming about his own religious background:  His father was born Muslim but became an atheist as an adult.  His mother was a very kind human being but grew up skeptical of organized religion.  It was after college, when he was working in Chicago as a community organizer, that Obama found himself drawn to the social justice commitments of Christian churches.  In particular he was moved by the way black churches heeded "the Biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities."  As he puts it, "in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather, as an active, palpable agent in the world.  As a source of hope."

It's clear that Obama doesn't believe that religious people have a monopoly on morality.  He explains that we are "no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."  We must never allow any religion or non-religion a special or dictating role in government, and in that sense separation of church and state remains crucial.   On the other hand, he sees religion as a tremendous force for social good that should be encouraged by the federal government (2). 

He plans to implement the federal faith-based initiative started by President Bush in a distinctly different way from his predecessor.  First of all, he's promised not to show favoritism to any religious groups; Bush was criticized for allegedly dedicating the lion share of funding to evangelical Christian projects.  Obama will not allow religious groups receiving federal money to discriminate in hiring, such as only employing those of their own faith, as was done under the Bush administration (3).  He will not allow proselytizing by any religion in the delivery of social services; the hungry must be fed and the homeless housed without being asked to join the provider's religion, as happened in the Bush program (4).

President Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and he's adamant that first amendment guarantees be adhered to in this program, so that free exercise of religion in the realm of social service and social justice is encouraged, but there's no governmental establishment of religion (5).  Let's give him a chance to chance to show us a new way forward, building on the positive potential of religion in a time of massive social dislocation.

NOTES

(1)  "Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives Launched," U.S. Government Info, (January 30, 2001) http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa012901a.htm

(2)  Barack Obama, "Call to Renewal Keynote Address"  (Washington, DC:  June 28, 2006),http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1435509773

(3) Karen Travers, "Obama Names 26-Year-Old Director of Faith-Based Office:  White House to Broaden Religious and Community Outreach"  (ABC News:  February 5, 2009), http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/Story?id=6806913&page=1

(4) Eric Gorski, "Obama Toes Church, Stare Line:  New Faith-Based Office to Include Secular Groups," (Associated Press, February 14, 2009), www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090214/LIFE/902140304

(5)  Ed Stoddard, "Obama Evokes Church/State Divide at National Prayer Breakfast"  (Reuters Blogs, February 5, 2009), http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2009/02/05/obama-evokes-churchstate-divide-at-national-prayer-breakfast/