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Of Little Faith
Of Little Faith: The Politics of George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives by Amy E. Black, Douglas L. Koopman, and David K. Ryden Georgetown Univ. Press, 2004 356 pp., $ 26.95, paper 
A Revolution of Compassion
A Revolution of Compassion: Faith-Based Groups As Full Partners in Fighting America's Social Problems by Dave Donaldson and Stanley W. Carlson-Thies Baker Books, 2003 208 pp., $14.99, paper |
A century ago, Harvard psychologist William James rocked the academic world with his insights into the potency of religious ideals and religious experience. Though a pragmatist and a skeptic, James was deeply moved by the lives of people transformed through a profession of faith. "St. Paul long ago made our ancestors familiar with the idea that every soul is virtually sacred," James wrote in The Varieties of Religious Experience. "The belief in the essential sacredness of every one expresses itself today in all sorts of human customs and reformatory institutions. … The saints, with their extravagance of human tenderness, are the great torch-bearers of this belief, the tip of the wedge, the clearers of the darkness."
It's a sign of the times that James' unremarkable observations about religion have become so contested. Critics have assailed President Bush's "faith-based initiative," for example, not only on church-state grounds but on the assumption that religious organizations don't offer any distinctive resources to people in need. Indeed, many thinkers are agnostic, even cynical, about the link between faith and social stability. In the wake of 9/11, theologians and religious studies scholars such as Charles Kimball (When Religion Becomes Evil) went so far as to label truth claims in the public square as a telltale sign of the corruption of religion. Nevertheless, Bush has forced a national debate over religion and government social policy. "I believe it is in the national interest that government stand side by side with people of faith who work to change lives for the better," he told supporters at a recent White House conference on his initiative. "I'm telling America we need not discriminate against faith-based programs."
Three recent books suggest that the argument over the Bush agenda is far from over. In Of Little Faith: The Politics of George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiative, political science professors Amy Black, Douglas Koopman, and David Ryden recount the twists and turns of the initiative over a three-year period. Based on interviews with key players in the White House and Congress, the book explains in exacting detail why the president's legislative effort flopped. There's plenty of blame to go around. Supporters introduced their bill too quickly, the authors claim, and House Republicans retooled it as a "payoff to the GOP's traditional religious base." At the same time, liberal Democrats were desperate to prevent a Bush victory that might draw away African American voters, who mostly love the idea. "The mischaracterizations and distortions that marked the debate were more than mere ignorance or uncertainty about the law," the authors conclude. "They reflected intentional political strategies designed to ensure defeat of the proposal." Of Little Faith offers even-handed analysis that nonetheless rejects the "crabbed version of religion" which colors so much public discourse.
In A Revolution of Compassion, Dave Donaldson and Stanley Carlson-Thies deliver a sturdy apologia for the president's agenda. They sketch the history and accomplishments of the initiative and examine the obstacles that remain. Carlson-Thies, who served in the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, brings to the issue a sober and straightforward style. Donaldson, founder of We Care America, keeps the responsibility of congregations always in view. The authors take note of the hostility to religion in public life (with a bizarre story of churches turned away by grief counselors on 9/11), though they place the burden of reform on the evangelical community. "Why have so many churches—unfettered in this country to be as generous as they wish toward their hurting neighbors—done so little to help the poor?" they ask. Good question.
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