FEDERAL FAITH

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Are we being served Church and State with a twist? Its seems so! Instead of out with the old, in with the new President Obama is revamping the old Faith Based Office and injecting some new elements to it. While the office under George W. Bush may have left some with a bad taste in their mouth for being perceived as reigniting culture wars, under President Obama the office's has a new title and mission(s).The "White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships", headed by Joshua DuBois, the Obama presidential campaign director of religious affairs, seeks to do more than just help social service groups receive federal aid.

According to a Feb 5, 2009 White House press release, the office has four key priorities:

• The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
• It will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.
• The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
• Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.
  

While the administration has received healthy doses of praise and criticism for the restoration of this office, the first test of how open dialogue will be comes with the postponed announcement of whether religious groups will be required to higher personnel outside of their particular faith, in order to receive federal funds. According to a post under the religion section of U.S.News & World Reports, "Liberal groups say they'll object to such state-sponsored discrimination. Conservative religious groups say they'll back out of Obama's faith-based program if they're forced to hire from outside of their faith traditions."

Check Out US News & World Report's Top 10 Obama Faith Moments:
click links to read more.

1. Rick Warren's Inauguration Day Invocation
2. Granting First TV Interview to Arabic Language Network
3. Reversing Mexico City Policy on Family Planning Providers Abroad
4. Opening Rallies With Prayer
5. Launching White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
6. Convening a Faith Advisory Council
7. Joe Biden's Receiving Ashes on Ash Wednesday
8. Lifting Restrictions on Federally-Funded Embryonic Stem Cell Research
9. Announcing Plans to Give Notre Dame's Commencement Address
10. Speaking to Muslim World From Turkey

- O.Lucius