ACT I
I would like to begin this post by stating that part of it initially affects those churches who have been deceived into following governmental dollars to fund humanitarian programs within their communities. Formerly known as the faith based initiatives under, President Barack Obama this department will be known as the Office Of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships.
Yes, there is a vast difference between the two.
Under former President Bush, the law didn't bring into question the employment practices of a religious organization using money to promote their mission to the community. Under President Obama however, it is at best obscured as to how organizations that do not hire from ALL GROUPS of individuals will actually be looked upon when it comes to competing for federally funded grants within their communities.
Part I: Enter The Courts
According to a
CNN report,
"...Obama does not rescind Bush's provision to allow faith-based groups to discriminate in their hiring practices, but does provide a legal process for organizations to go through in order to that ensure hiring is legal and non-discriminatory."A Legal Process??? IE: A court structured remedy...Does anyone else see this as alarming?
As I stated I am not and have not been a promoter of any faith based government money, but the greater point to make in this post is how religious organizations will now be treated when it comes to what is now deemed as "discriminatory practices" in hiring. By the way, those "discriminatory practices" are said to be instances in which a religious organization doesn't hire individuals outside of their faith or when they don't hire individuals that meet their moral standards. The problem here is that the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 gives religious organizations the right to remain true to its essential makeup and teachings.
What is tricky here is that the new provisions apply more specifically to religious organizations that preach and teach against homosexuality. If the trend proceeds in the path that it is going, not hiring homosexuals to carry out the work of the ministry or not hiring individuals who even believe in the shared goals of the ministry could be a criminal offence at worst or an offence by which a religious organization is disqualified from participating in community service oriented grants.
Part II: Enter The Dragon
Notice how the language has changed and simply been adopted casually even by religious individuals...Point is that ministries that hold fast to the biblical message of godliness and holiness and against homosexuality more specifically, and live out their faith within the community are said to be "discriminatory" and have "discriminatory practices" and this is said rather casually as if it's true
In fact, look at the matter of fact words from one of the 25 new President's Faith Advisory Council members:
"We're going to have to work that out, because on the one hand, you don't want to use federal funds to discriminate. But on the other hand, we can't have religious organizations taking money on the condition that they will hire people who live a lifestyle contrary to what they teach," ~ Dr. Joel Hunter Senior Pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Florida member Council Of Religious Leaders Office Of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships.
This Pastor, hand picked by the President, to represent the "leaders and scholars" that "will foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith", swallows hook, line and sinker, and validates a completely new paradigm of biblical teaching and doctrine...The new paradigm is that setting forth TRUTH and a biblically centered message is now considered DISCRIMINATION. This is the affirmation that was desired from the beginning. The affirmation that religion is merely another form of discrimination.
So the devastating part of this argument is the unchallenged acknowledgement that the church IS a discriminatory vehicle. This should also be alarming because now we are not talking about biblical truth, but we are talking about religious pluralism and social ecumenism and creating and holding standards of human morality ABOVE the standards of God and his word.
ACT II
Part I: Joshua Dubois and the introduction of the social gospel as normative.
What is a social gospel?
A "social gospel" simply says that Christians should take care of the poor and the disenfranchised, and be a conduit for social causes as opposed to being standards for community morality and bearers of moral causes such as the sanctity of marriage as being between one man and one woman and defenders of the unborn's right to life. In other words, because society is so deep in various inculturations, religion should not seek to promote it's values but just live them out individually as individuals see fit to do so.
Appointed by the President as the Director of the Office Of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships, 26 year old Joshua Dubois is no stranger to pitching religion to make political sales. He was candidate Obama's campaign "religious director" and was instrumental in allowing Donnie McClurkin to travel with the campaign. He was also responsible for offsetting Pastor McClurkin's testimony and teaching against homosexuality by hiring openly gay minister Rev. Andy Sidden, pastor of Garden of Grace United Church of Christ in Columbia, SC. to play down Donnie's teaching that homosexuals can be delivered from their homosexuality. Speculation is that he (Rev. Dubois) was probably the one responsible for Pastor Rick warren getting an opportunity to do the opening prayer at the 44th inauguration of the President Of The United States.
Needless to say, there is no rhyme or reason to his methods other than political. If this trend continues churches and ministers will continue to only be used in that capacity to gain support on certain issues that solidify the President's popularity.
Part II: What Does Rev. Dubois Believe?
Joshua Dubois has his roots within in the AME Church and inspirations within United Pentecostal Assemblies Of God Church Of God, Cambridge, MS. Going from a trinitarian belief to a oneness pentecostal belief will have it's challenges because they are two vastly different concepts.
Although Rev. Dubois initially refused to make his statement of position on abortion known to WORLD Magazine, according to Chicago Free Press in a Feb. 4th report he decided to let the cat out of the bag by saying that abortion was simply an issue equivalent to health care and putting food on the table.
In a
Wall Street Journal report 8/16/2008 Rev.
Dubois said,
"Abortion is certainly a deeply moral issue, but so is struggling to afford decent health care for your family, or straining to put food on your table,"Yes we agree that each of these are great moral issues, but the point here was not simply to point out multiple similar moral issues, but to minimize abortion and simultaneously exalt other social issues so that all exist on same level. Also calculating as he spoke those words to a group of Catholic workers.
President Obama is certainly excited about Rev. Dubois and the opportunity to "CHANGE" Christian minds regarding religious and social issues. He speaks this regarding Rev. Dubois's efforts, "The grassroots conversations we've held across the country, our landmark evangelical meetings...are helping to change our nation, person by person."
I believe that as time goes on, it will be further confirmed that this President's idea of change is not and was not only for social, or economic change, but was for religious, ideological and even moral change.
ACT III: The Big Picture
"Some folks on the left are uncomfortable with these topics," DuBois said. "There is a constitutional and clear separation between church and state embedded in the fabric of our country. And some folks think that means we have to be separate not only in our legal approach to policy but also who we talk to, who we engage with, whose concerns we can listen to." Faith In Public Life from article in WORLD Magazine 1/22/2007 Mark Bergin
"The big picture is that President Obama believes faith-based and smaller secular neighborhood organizations can play a role in American renewal. They can work with the federal government to address big problems,"..."We're also going to make sure we have a keener eye toward the separation of church and state." Rev. Joshua Dubois Director Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships 2/5/2009
In the mind of President Obama and his new appointee the
separation of "church and state" means the secularization of the state. Any religious impact upon the
gov't from the church is not supposed to exist outside of dealing with issues that come from the proliferation of the "social gospel". This leads us directly back to the goals and aims of
Dr. Paul Kurtz's Council For Secular Humanism's Humanist Manifesto of 2000. There were
3 primary objectives:
"…The wider platform for human progress as part of a New Enlightenment needs, I submit, to advocate secularism in the above three senses:(1) the separation of religion from the state;(2) the humanization of values that satisfy the deeper interests and needs of human beings; and (3) the decline of religious practice, entailing the growth of the Human City in place of the City of God."You may say this is conjecture or theory, but I challenge you to read and research both the President's and rev. Dubois's statements in light of the sense in which they are intended instead of the sense that both you and I hoped they were intended when they were made.
ACT IV: Directives & A New Cast Of Characters
In addition to watering down the gospel, Rev.
Dubois's office will have the following 4 directives:
* The Office's top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
* The office will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.
* The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
* Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.
These are all noble causes that the President has picked. The objectives is not what is in question. The means or how we arrive to an end is.
Finally, according to
Streetprophets.com and
U.S. News God & Country, the newest entity along with The Office Of Faith Based And Neighborhood Partnerships is the President's 25 member Faith Advisory Council. Who's current members where chosen because ,
"These are folks who are at the top of their fields — both religious and secular that really represent diverse backgrounds and a range of political perspective." Rev. Joshua
Dubois 2/5/2009 Christianity Today, Sarah
Pulliam.
15 of the council members have been listed as follows:
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 (Hated Bush's faith based initiatives but promises to work with President Obama's version and stated, "(this is an opportunity to) enhance the Reform Movement’s ability to speak out publicly and robustly, both when we agree and disagree with the White House’s policies.")
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 (This professor has written a book encouraging tighter restrictions on religious organizations receiving federal funds ie: seperation of church and state)
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 (This group promises to back out IF President Obama changes the current regulations regarding faith organization and hiring practices)
We often rightfully say, "Pray for our President" that's good, but I believe everyday we are learning just a little more about what to actually pray for.
Blessed!
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