Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Religion
Related: About this forumA Faith-Based Opportunity for Obama
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/6823/a_faith_based_opportunity_for_obama/February 8, 2013 10:26am
Post by SARAH POSNER
At the annual National Prayer Breakfast yesterday, President Obama announced the departure of Joshua DuBois, the director of his controversial Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. DuBois, who has long frustrated civil liberties and religious freedom advocacy groups with his resistance to their concerns about constitutional problems plaguing the office, is off to teach at New York University and to launch "a new organization to help organizations and local governments partner with faith based organizations," a White House official told me. Michelle Boorstein at the Washington Post also reports that DuBois also will be writing "a book of devotionals for leaders based on the ones he sends the president each day."
A successor has not been announced. But DuBois' departure gives the White House an opportunity to recast the office with a director focused on overseeing significant constitutional protections, rather than sending the president scripture, tweeting Bible verses, and further entangling the White House with religious organizations.
DuBois has his admirers, to be sure. For many of them, his daily emailed devotionals to the presidentwhich Obama took pains to highlight yesterdayare frequently cited as evidence not only of the president's piety but also to counter conservative claims that the White House is somehow hostile to religion, or insufficiently committed to the country's "Christian heritage." While the president is undoubtedly entitled to receive and read whatever religious materials he desires, should they really be coming from a White House staffer?
Two years ago, Jacques Berlinerblau, the Georgetown professor and proponent of secular government, criticized Obama's "platitude fest" at the National Prayer Breakfast and compared the faith-based office to the Kremlin. Instead of starting the president's morning with scripture, Berlinerblau wrote,
"I wish Mr. DuBois would start off my morning with explanations of what exactly that Office is doinga never-ending source of confusion, and even awe, among reporters, policy analysts and professors in Washington, DC." DuBois has defended his work by claiming that government partnerships with faith-based organizations help serve the needy. Later that year, DuBois told a gathering in Colorado, "If your focus is first and foremost serving people in need, then there's not a tremendous amount of time left to debate the finer points of the church-state relationship."
more at link
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 581 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (0)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
A Faith-Based Opportunity for Obama (Original Post)
cbayer
Feb 2013
OP
I would like to see the President open a Fact-Based and Neighborhood Partnership.
cleanhippie
Feb 2013
#1
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)1. I would like to see the President open a Fact-Based and Neighborhood Partnership.
msongs
(67,441 posts)2. keep preaching the Nine Commandments there boys and girls nt