PoliticalGroove Forums - View Single Post - Obama wants to expand faith-based programs

Comicsartist · 07-02-2008, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocealdia

Exactly... gobama. Even Huffington.com and Arianna herself are disagreeing with his recent moves to the center. I can't believe he's still standing in front of his change sign while agreeing with most of bushie's policies. This is change?

Quote:

“It says that … if you get a federal grant, you can’t use the money to proselytize or discriminate against the people you serve or the people you hire. So that’s a notable distinction from the policy pursued by the Bush administration.”

Hollman’s group has opposed Bush’s faith-based efforts on two counts -- his attempt to have several federal laws rewritten in order to allow such discrimination and his efforts to promote funding of organizations that don’t strictly separate their religious functions from their secular ones.

But Obama’s speech demonstrated a broadly different understanding of the issue than has the rhetoric of Bush and his surrogates, Hollman said.

“It seems encouraging that he says, ‘Make no mistake, I believe in the separation of church and state,’” she said. “To me, that is signaling the importance of recognizing the constitutional principle and policy interest of protecting religious freedom while talking about the way government and religious institutions can be partners.”

Hollman added that Obama’s speech showed sensitivity to religious groups that express concerns about government funding churches, synagogues and mosques -- also a departure from Bush’s rhetoric.

“There’s nothing here that indicates that those who would emphasize religious-liberty concerns [about the faith-based plan] somehow don’t count or don’t understand what we’re doing here or are missing the boat,” she said.

On Bush’s faith-based programs, Obama says save best, ditch rest

There are key differences between Obama and Bush's faith based initiative plans.