EXCLUSIVE: Obama to Create Faith Council

[Thrill]

CBNNews.com - CBN News has learned that President Obama will create a President's Council on Faith.

The council will be announced at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast in Washington tomorrow.

The President has not been shy talking about his faith.

This new council will be made up of religious leaders across the ideaological spectrum.

Their main task will be to provide public policy input on faith related issues ranging from healthcare to poverty. They will meet regularly and discuss their ideas with the President.

The council will be part of an overall faith-based office.

The President is also expected to lay out his vision for that office at the prayer breakfast.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/534646.aspx

[trotsky]

1. How fucking awesome.

So we non-believers get a throwaway mention at the inaugural, and he goes on to do this crap.

Wish I could say I'm surprised.

[burythehatchet]

2. I have no doubt about the fact that our socio-economic collapse is coming

but we get to collapse with President Cool Breeze at the helm and that makes it all better for me. :sarcasm:

[bunnies]

3. Keep you damn religion OUT of my government!!!

What the fuck Obama? What the FUCK?! :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[melm00se]

4. Faith

has been a component of American life since the founding of the original colonies from Europe.

Ignoring it (or at worse reviling it) will do nothing more than draw additional fire from the right and forces of faith.

One thing that must always be remembered is that if you mess with people of deep faith, you will draw (metaphorically) fire and they will dig in their heels the hardest and deepest. Again, this has been seen over and over again throughout history.

[nebenaube]

9. sorry but...

We had a revolution against that faith in 1776.

[melm00se]

12. actually

we had a revolution against Britain for attempting to regain control over the colonies in an effort to reestablish their treasury which had been run down by the various wars that Britain was engaged in around the globe involving her other colonies.

The academic term for the situation that Britain was trying to reverse is salutary neglect.

As the British began to strictly enforce parliamentary laws (the various taxation acts up to and including the Intolerable Acts) sparked the revolution (that was the economic factor) as well as the unspoken fear that Britain was going to attempt to dictate matters of faith, which was why the colonial founders hit the road in the 1st place - many were persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Read up on:

Massachusetts - Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies were both founded by religious separatists
Maryland - founded by Lord Baltimore as haven for persecuted Catholics
Connecticut - founded by folks who were persecuted for their beliefs in MA
Rhode Island - founded by folks cast out of MA, again for their religious beliefs
New Jersey - founded, in part, by promising freedom of religion
Pennsylvania - Founded by William Penn by and for the Quakers/Society of Friends

and you will see the threads (and in some cases cables) of religion running through the colonies.

with the other colonies, the threads are a bit more subtle but you only have to look to the number of churches built throughout the colonies to see the overall influence and impact of religion/faith in colonial and revolutionary america and those threads can be followed through our history right up to today.

The one colony (and you can see it in their current politics) that had a different and far more planned founding and development and that was New Hampshire. (you can read into that what you will)

Now, look where the lead up to and the initial actions of the revolutionary war happened and connect the dots.

The separation of Church and State didn't came into the national lexicon until drafting of the US Constitution and that was in direct response to underlying reason discussed above that many colonists came here in the 1st place: to avoid religious persecution from a government who was of a different faith than their own so they made damn sure that it wouldn't happen again.

Look, there is nothing wrong with faith, in an of itself, it is when that faith is manipulated, twisted and used as justification for immoral acts that it becomes a problem.

it has been hear for a long long time and will continue to be here for a long time. trying to drive it out and control it will generate a reaction like you have never seen (hence the reason that you don't discuss politics and religion with folks you don't know - and even with folks you do. They are 2 sides of the same coin: belief systems that have no way to prove that it is the "best").

[trotsky]

14. "when that faith is manipulated, twisted and used as justification for immoral acts"

Well that's kind of the point, isn't it? What you view as a twisting or manipulation of faith is called true faith by that Christian over there. (And vice-versa.) The various cults and sects have never been able to agree on some of the most basic tenets of the faith, let alone its political implications - which is why many of us bristle no matter if it's Fred Phelps or Jim Willis or Barack Obama.

trying to drive it out and control it will generate a reaction like you have never seen

Nice strawman. (With a threat?) I just want people to keep their faith to themselves and not inject it into OUR government. Because I don't care if your intentions are good or if your political goals line up with mine - it's just a bad idea.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. As long as they pay for their own supplies, office/meeting space, snacks, etc., fine.

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. "Made up of religious leaders across the ideological spectrum."

That is to say, the ideological spectrum from "conservative" to "Talibangelical."

I have $10 that says his council will be dominated by the Rick Warren types, with the Gene Robinson types having barely a token presence. Any takers?

[Strong Atheist]

13. Not me. nt.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Members:

The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will include a new President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. There will be 25 members of the Council, appointed to 1-year terms.

Members of the Council include:

Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia, PA

Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and noted church/state expert
Washington, DC

Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC

Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria, VA

Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH

Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Corps
Chicago, IL

Fred Davie, President, Public / Private Ventures, a secular non-profit intermediary
New York, NY

Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia, PA

Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and expert on church/state issues
Winston-Salem, NC

Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Lakeland, FL

Dr. Arturo Chavez, Ph.D., President & CEO, Mexican American Cultural Center
San Antonio, TX

Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
Washington, DC

Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN

Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco, a secular national operating intermediary
New York, NY

Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue, WA

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ObamaAnnouncesWhiteHouseOfficeofFaith-basedandNeighborhoodPartnerships/

[PassingFair]

21. Where the HELL is Barry Lynn?

He's my religious hero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_W._Lynn

[MNDemNY]

7. Fuck -a-bunch-of -god, fuck -a-bunch-of faith. Let's get REAL.

[bulldogge]

8. To begin

with CBN? As for the faith based council he is "creating" it already exist and was in existence before Bush got into office. Basically they are faith based organizations that receive federal funding to do humanitarian work. The main issue at this point is that they are able to discriminate in their hiring tactics (religious, sexual discrimination etc) because they are a faith based org. Catch is people are saying if you are receiving federal funding you need to follow the rules like everybody else. Need to dig a little further on that one....seriosly CBN?

[rurallib]

10. What part of "separation of church and state" don't these people

understand? And why is healthcare a "faith related issue?" Or for that matter- why is poverty a faith related issue?
Jesus save me from your followers.

[gblady]

11. another issue....

where a mere glance at the subject...
and you know the DU reaction...

[TZ]

15. CBN news

I'm sure there's no slant or agenda in this story, nope not at all.:sarcasm:

[TZ]

16. Not all bad news.

Its rather evident that no matter what else he is Obama respects atheists even if he happens to believe in God himself.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4985200#4985253

I'm not surprised he is keeping his counsel. But its only for advice and doesn't have real policy power. Obama has shown again and again he's no fundie. Would I rather he didn't do this? Sure. But Obama promised inclusion of all and unfortunately he's keeping his promise.

[jody]

17. ROFLMAO at anyone who didn't see this coming, More to come. n/t

[skepticscott]

19. Why is anything....

ANYTHING in the government of a supposedly rational people based on faith?? Why isn't there a "President's Council on Reason"? Or an "Office of Reason-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships"? Why would people consider things with titles like that silly and even offensive, but think that anything with "faith" (why not just say RELIGION and be done with it?) in the title is good, noble, uplifting and essential to our country's well-being?

[charlie]

20. Eh, reason is boring

Dry and starchy. A Presidential Luck Council, that's something everyone can get behind. Populate it with Lotto winners and have them bring the totems that brought fortune. When the President has to address the nation or attend a summit, swaddle him in their lucky t-shirts, socks, jewelry, and ballcaps. If a crisis arises, fly the cabinet across the Atlantic to kiss the Blarney Stone. Retire the Congressional chaplain and start sessions with the clerk reading from fortune cookies.

We'll all be feeling so lucky, the ship of state can't help but sail for glory.

[denim_kittens]

22. Meh.

Why not a council on uropathy, flying kites or maybe critical thinking which is fundamentally lacking in this country on an epic scale.