Polarized and Politicized: The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

Yesterday in a speech addressing a conference sponsored by the Bush administration’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the President said that the faith-based office and its activities are, “bigger that politics.” This statement is Orwellian given all of the evidence that has clearly illustrated just how polarizing and politicized this office has been.

The President’s Faith-Based office has been all about politics. We need look no further than the voices of those who have worked for the president and have run this office over the Bush years. They have spoken of their frustrations with how politicized the office had become. They saw first-hand that the effort was, and is, more about politics and courting churches.

Unfortunately, the creation of the faith-based office as part of the Bush administration was never about creating a way to better advocate for, and better fund, successful partnerships with all federally funded social service programs; nor has it been about ensuring that programming, and the tax-payer dollars that are allocated for such programming, finds its way to those most in need of services and to those organizations that are most qualified to deliver such services. This is something that has disturbed many who have worked in the faith-based office over the years. David Kuo’s book on his experiences working for the president in the faith-based office tells the tale in great detail.

The Administration can spew what appears on the surface to be impressive numbers, but it rings no more true than the “Mission Accomplished” sign in Iraq. Sadly, the faith-based office added little value, less accountability and a whole lot of government-funded discrimination. Yes, of course, one of our chief complaints about this president’s faith-based office is that it does not ensure that ALL organizations receiving government dollars be required to protect the constitutional and civil rights of those receiving services and all employees working in these programs.

The Bush administration has eviscerated most of the safeguards that had successfully protected the independence of churches, while also protecting the rights that all Americans have to expect equal treatment when they apply for a government-funded job or when they participate in a government-funded service. This office and this administration have actually promoted discrimination. No one should have to face government-sanctioned and government-funded religious discrimination when applying for a job or when receiving services funded by the government. Should a social worker who is not the "right" religion be excluded or fired from a government funded job because he or she is not of the right religion or has violated a tenet of their religion? Of course not. Discrimination based on religion goes against a core American value.

It is not just the discriminatory behavior of the office. It is the lack of fiscal accountability that disturbs me. It is hard to believe that any taxpayer would find it acceptable that the faith-based office is not holding all grantees accountable for where our dollars are going and how they are being used. It has become clear to those who have spent years trying to figure out the specific details of where the money has gone, how it has been spent program-by-program and how successful these programs have been is impossible to track—because in many cases that information does not currently exist. For example, I don’t think I need to bother running through all of the documented examples of the misuse, lack of accountability and sheer thievery that occurred following the dumping of funds into random programs following Katrina. Just as we know of the rampant government-funded discrimination that has occurred over the years.

At the end of the day, the real issue is not whether or not an office that helps coordinate and advocate for more and better resources for those in need is necessary, many will continue to debate and discuss its value. However, one thing is clear no matter what is decided; this office should not function as a political tool that panders to and attempts to buy off support from religious communities.

Have you noticed that rarely does anyone—including the Bush Administration ever add the words “…and 'community initiatives'” when they speak of this office? This is more than telling. As they say…the devil is always in the details…and that is definitely the problem with the current administration’s misuse of its faith-based office.