AU Students

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to take my cousin Sam, visiting from London, to a luncheon at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. A political studies student at Leeds University, he was interested to learn about the impact of religion on our national politics.

I guess it’s a little impertinent for me to issue a report card for President Barack Obama on his performance during his first 100 days in office. I’m not his teacher, and he’s not my student.

But what the heck? It’s a free country and everyone else is doing it. So here goes.

I’m focusing on issues with church-state implications. Somebody else can tackle the other topics.

Should taxpayers be forced to subsidize social service programs that discriminate in hiring on religious grounds?

Most Americans would quickly and emphatically say, “No!” If taxpayers of all faiths (and none) are paying for a program, taxpayers of all faiths (and none) should be eligible to work there. Applicants should be judged on their qualifications, not their theological opinions.

Yet former President George W. Bush allowed exactly that kind of job bias in publicly funded programs run by faith-based agencies.

Lock up the children! The Rev. Wiley Drake is on the loose again.

I’m sure you remember Drake, the controversial California pastor and media hound. Drake, a Southern Baptist, is perhaps best known for waging an “imprecatory prayer” campaign against Americans United and its staff (including me by name – thanks, Wiley!).

Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times uncovered some interesting news yesterday about President Barack Obama and his personal expressions of faith.

In the history of church-state separation, certain dates are special: On Dec. 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was officially ratified. On Jan. 1, 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury (Conn.) Baptists containing the famous “wall of separation between church and state” metaphor. The U.S. Supreme Court spoke strongly in favor of separation in Everson v. Board of Education, issued on Feb. 10, 1947.

President Barack Obama’s reluctance to overturn a Bush-era executive order permitting religious bias in federally funded “faith-based” programs is not going unnoticed.

The Los Angeles Times was quick to blast the president’s inaction in a Feb. 9 editorial cleverly headlined “Thou may not discriminate.” The newspaper labeled Obama’s decision not to revoke the order an “unpleasant” surprise and called for quick corrective action.

White House photo

Have you ever had “one of those days” at work? I’m talking about the kind of day where something takes off, you get to working on it, and the next thing you know nine hours have flown by and you’re surprised at how much you’ve accomplished.

Yesterday was like that here at AU. We knew that President Barack Obama would be issuing an executive order addressing the “faith-based” initiative. We didn’t know what it would say, although speculation was rife.

Nearly eight years ago, President George W. Bush made it clear when he created the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that rewarding his Religious Right base was going to be a priority.

But now that priority has grown into an obsession.

Say you’re a social worker in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and you’ve just heard about a new U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) program intended to keep kids out of gangs. You hop down to the local agency running the project to put in an application.

While there, the agency staffer hands you a form to fill out.

It asks, “Do you believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God?”

It goes on, “Do you believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit?”