{"id":489,"date":"2009-04-07T15:38:07","date_gmt":"2009-04-07T15:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/04\/what-values-will-bind-the-pres.html"},"modified":"2009-04-07T15:38:07","modified_gmt":"2009-04-07T15:38:07","slug":"what-values-will-bind-the-pres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/04\/what-values-will-bind-the-pres.html","title":{"rendered":"What Values will Bind the President’s Council on Faith Based Initiatives?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The President’s Council on Faith Based and Community
\nPartnerships has been filled out.\u00a0<\/span>It puts together
\nan extraordinary group of people from different backgrounds and ideologies reinforcing President
\nObama’s comments yesterday in Turkey<\/a> :<\/p>\n

“One of the great strengths of the United States is …
\nwe have a very large Christian population — we do not consider ourselves a
\nChristian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a
\nnation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The President’s comments about us not being a Christian nation continue to be\u00a0anathema\u00a0to many in this county who insist just the opposite. \u00a0His comments also beg the question of what ideals and set of values do bind our nation, and will they hold together his Advisory Council?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Does the President mean the ideals and values embedded in the constitution? \u00a0Even those are contested and the different perspectives, which lead to very different understandings of how religion should function within the public square, are represented on this council. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
T<\/span>here are some deep ideological differences between these individuals\u00a0including abortion, gay marriage and, more immediately applicable
\nto this group, federal funding for programs that use discriminate religious hiring practices. \u00a0Where will the much talked about common ground <\/span>and common good<\/span> be located and how many people will able to stand there?<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n

My hope is that the president is engaged enough with this
\ngroup that each member continues to feel that it is politically wiser to
\nstay on the advisory council rather than leave it\u00a0to make a political statement\u00a0when the going gets tough.\u00a0 <\/span>And
\nthe going will surely get tough. \u00a0There will be winners and losers among this
\ngroup once policy decisions start to be made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most religious leaders I know feel invested in the President’s Council and hope that it will succeed as a new
\nexperiment in\u00a0<\/span>religious pluralism
\nand American politics.\u00a0\u00a0But answering the important question about the values that they share will have to be one of the first orders of business of this council.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is the list of the council members from the White House\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Each member of the Council is appointed to a one-year term.\u00a0 The members of the Council are:<\/p>\n

Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco
New York , NY<\/p>\n

*Anju Bhargava, Founder, Asian Indian Women of America
New Jersey<\/p>\n

*Bishop Charles Blake, Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ
Los Angeles, CA<\/p>\n

Noel Castellanos, CEO, Christian Community Development Association
Chicago, IL<\/p>\n

*The Rev. Peg Chemberlin, President-Elect, National Council of Churches USA
Minneapolis, MN<\/p>\n

Dr. Arturo Chavez, President & CEO, Mexican American Catholic College
San Antonio , TX<\/p>\n

Fred Davie, Senior Adviser, Public\/Private Ventures\u00a0
New York , NY<\/p>\n

*Nathan Diament, Director of Public Policy, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Washington, DC<\/p>\n

Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Longwood, FL<\/p>\n

*Harry Knox, Director, Religion and Faith Program, Human Rights Campaign
Washington, DC<\/p>\n

Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN<\/p>\n

*Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies
Washington, DC<\/p>\n

Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH<\/p>\n

Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC<\/p>\n

Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
Chicago, IL<\/p>\n

*Anthony Picarello, General Counsel , United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Washington, DC<\/p>\n

*Nancy Ratzan, National President, National Council of Jewish Women
Miami, FL<\/p>\n

Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs
Winston-Salem , NC<\/p>\n

Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Washington , DC<\/p>\n

Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia , PA<\/p>\n

Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria , VA<\/p>\n

Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue , WA<\/p>\n

Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers \/ Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia , PA<\/p>\n

Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
Washington , DC<\/p>\n

*Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Indianapolis, IN<\/p>\n

NOTE: Members marked with an asterisk were announced today. The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer.\u00a0 Other members of the Advisory Council were announced earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President’s Council on Faith Based and Community Partnerships has been filled out.\u00a0It puts together an extraordinary group of people from different backgrounds and ideologies reinforcing President Obama’s comments yesterday in Turkey : “One of the great strengths of the United States is … we have a very large Christian population — we do not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion-in-the-public-square"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Values will Bind the President's Council on Faith Based Initiatives? - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/04\/what-values-will-bind-the-pres.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Values will Bind the President's Council on Faith Based Initiatives? 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Paul B. Raushenbush is the moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University. .An ordained American Baptist minister, Rev. Raushenbush speaks and preaches at colleges, churches and institutes around the country including the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., The Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York, and the New America Foundation. Rev. Raushenbush has served at Seattle First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Chaplaincy at Columbia University and as College and Young Adult Minister at The Riverside Church in New York City. He has appeared on ABC World News Tonight and is a repeated guest on CNN. He has been quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post and is a contributing editor for Beliefnet.com. His first book, Teen Spirit: One World, Many Faiths (HCI) was released in the Fall of 2004. He is the editor of the 100th Anniversary edition of Walter Rauschenbusch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s book Christianity and the Social Crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c In the 21st Century (HarperOne). His work at Princeton includes strengthening the interfaith community on campus. He is the Co-Director of the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations at The Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination at Princeton University. Rev. Raushenbush studied religion at Macalester College before attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he graduated with distinction.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/praushenbush"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}