Thread: Obama to create faith-based office

Sounds like Obama hasn't learned as he's about to get in over his head again! This guy really thinks he is "THE ONE" doesn't he?

Obama to create faith-based office
Associated Press
Posted: 02/05/2009 07:37:11 AM MST

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Thursday he will establish a White House office of faith-based initiatives that will show no favoritism to any religious group and adhere to the strict separation of church and state.

Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama spoke of how faith has often been a divisive tool, responsible for war and prejudice. But, he said, "there is no religion whose central tenet is hate" and all religions teach people to love and care for one another. That is the common ground underlying his faith-based office, he said.

In personal terms, he talked about the role of faith in his life, from his Muslim-born father and a mother skeptical of organized religion to his own embrace of Christianity as a young man.

"In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding," Obama told the gathering of lawmakers, dignitaries and world leaders. "This is my hope. This is my prayer."

Dogged throughout the presidential campaign by rumors that he was a Muslim, Obama described his background in a household that wasn't religious.

"I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and
Advertisement
to do unto others as I would want done," he said.

Obama planned to sign an executive order later in the day creating the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. It would expand and refocus the faith-based office founded by former President George W. Bush.

Obama said the organization will not favor any one religious group over another, will work with communities and will act "without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state."

The president will also appoint Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who headed religious outreach for Obama's Senate office and later his campaign, to lead the partnerships office and name 25 religious and secular leaders to a new advisory board.

During his presidential campaign, Obama said he wanted to expand White House faith-based efforts begun under Bush. But while he endorsed Bush's initiative to give religious groups more access to federal funding, he also promised to make some changes to the office.

Obama's advisers want to be certain tax dollars sent to the faith-based social service groups are used for secular purposes, such as feeding the hungry or housing the homeless, and not for religious evangelism. The administration doesn't want to be perceived as managing the groups yet does want transparency and accountability.

Obama pledged during the campaign to allow taxpayer-funded religious institutions to hire and fire based on religion - but only for the activities run on private funding.

One question is whether the faith-based office will issue grants under the Bush rules while the hiring policy is worked out.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/politics/ci_11634309

Press Release from "Americans United for the Separation of Church and State":

Americans United Says Obama Should Act Swiftly To Fix Constitutional Flaws Of 'Faith-Based' Office

Thursday, January 29, 2009

President Should Keep Promise To End Tax-Funded Religious Discrimination In Employment, Says Church-State Watchdog Group


The New York Times reported today that President Barack Obama will name Joshua DuBois, a Pentecostal minister who did religious outreach during the campaign, to head a revamped White House office of “faith-basedâ€

More taxpayer subsidized open borders, terrorist hugging and one world government propaganda.......

But, he said, "there is no religion whose central tenet is hate" and all religions teach people to love and care for one another.

Islam hates christians and jews. Read all about it, this is not an opinion.

Church-State Separationists Question Obama’s Faith-Based Office

Friday, February 06, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama Thursday promoted his version of a faith-based initiative plan that did not entirely please either the right or the left, even as the House-passed economic stimulus bill proposes to spend $500 million on such programs.

Conservatives are leery as to what type of faith-based funding will occur, while the liberal Americans United for Separation of Church and State is upset that Obama did not roll back the Bush administration’s policies on faith-based funding.

Obama signed an executive order Thursday to create the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. President George W. Bush had created a similar office to fund religious-based charitable organizations.

“Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times,â€

Originally Posted by IndianaJones

But, he said, "there is no religion whose central tenet is hate" and all religions teach people to love and care for one another.

Islam hates christians and jews. Read all about it, this is not an opinion.

And christians hate jews and muslims.....comes around full circle.