Three-quarters of Americans support Bush’s faith-based initiative. Or do they? “While the public expresses strong support for the idea of faith-based groups receiving government funding to provide social services, in practice, it has many reservations.” So reports a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Asked for an overall impression of the concept of allowing religious organizations and churches to compete for government funding of social services, a whopping 75 percent offered support, while only 21 percent were opposed. But later questions showed that those same supporters wouldn’t want mosques or Buddhist temples to receive such funds. Asked if evangelical churches should be able to compete for such funds, only 52 percent said yes. And an overwhelming 78 percent said that government-funded religious organizations shouldn’t be able to hire only people of the same faith. “The poll suggests people support the concept of faith-based funding, but they have lots of reservations that might undermine that general support,” Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, tells the Associated Press. No doubt.
It seems to Weblog that the 75 percent support is the result of years of promotion; in the 2000 campaign, both Bush and Gore made it a key part of their platforms. Turning the other numbers around will require a similar public promotion and information strategy. John DiIulio is doing just that right now (with all of his speaking engagements, has he even had time to stop by the White House?), but he’ll need help. He’ll get it. The Washington Post reports (at the very end of its article on the survey) that 25 conservative organizations are forming a Coalition for Compassion today to support and promote Bush’s faith-based initiative. The organizations listed include the National Association of Evangelicals, the Family Research Council, the Eagle Forum, the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, the Free Congress Foundation, and the Independent Women’s Forum. Kinda puts a nail in the coffin of the rumor that white evangelicals don’t support the initiative, doesn’t it? If that doesn’t, check out this finding from the Pew survey: “White evangelicals are more enthusiastic than other conservatives and moderate Republicans. Among Democrats, a bare majority of white liberals favor the idea, while black Democrats embrace it as strongly as Republican evangelicals.” (The New York Times, Reuters, and other publications also have articles on the survey, which is available online.)
More on Bush’s Faith-based initiative:
- Religious experts discuss soundness of President Bush’s faith-based initiatives | Journalist, scholars, among panelists (Freedom Forum)
- Black clerics open arms to Bush’s funding plan | Saying no to the money, they reason, is the luxury of the well-heeled and well-connected, not urban churches trying to keep kids off the street. (Chicago Tribune)
- Bush adviser: Faith-based plan bigger than religion | John DiIulio has until July 27 to come up with formal recommendations for making faith-based initiatives a reality. (Reuters/CNN)
- Faith-Based Discrimination: The Case of Alicia Pedreira | The Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children said her homosexuality made her unfit to work there as a therapist. Now, as Congress prepares to consider President Bush’s agenda to allow an array of government-financed social programs to be administrated by religious groups, her case is being monitored by proponents and opponents alike of so-called faith-based initiatives. (The New York Times)
- DiIulio’s faith-based challenge | Sharp comments to the National Association of Evangelicals should be read as an attack not on Christian conservatives but on all of us who do too little forโand think too little aboutโthe very poor. (E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post)
- Blair puts his faith in religious partners | Prime minister stresses moral values and asks for help in promoting health and welfare (The Guardian, London)
- You make the call | Should Washington discriminate against religious groups? (Marvin Olasky, World)
Other stories:
God and sports:
- Coach criticizes Knick chapel in article | In an interview with New York magazine, Jeff Van Gundy said he would like to limit the time that the team chaplain, Pastor John Love, spends with the players before games. (The New York Times)
- Also: Smile and you lose | The driven, intense son of another driven, intense coach, Jeff Van Gundy believes that the two worst things to happen to the NBA are God and golf. Why? They sap players’ intensity. But imagine what the game would look like if his players were as intense as he is. (New York)
- Pell in broadside at footballers, pop stars | Departing Catholic archbishop of Melbourne says three-quarters of pop stars and footballers are “crooks.” (The Age, Melbourne)
- Nothing’s sacred when money is god. โฆ except the footie | Churches oppose rugby on Good Friday (Paul Sheehan, The Sydney Morning Herald)
Sudan:
- A holy war of words | Washington is now beginning to take notice of Sudan’s once forgotten conflict (The Financial Times)
- Sudan persecution decried | Franklin Graham urges action by Bush (The Boston Globe)
- Sudan ‘gives green light’ for slave trade to flourish again | The Sudanese government is allegedly encouraging slavery by delivering arms to Arab kidnappers in return for their support in the civil war (The Daily Telegraph, London)
- Canada’s refusal to grant Nigerian refugee status raises question: What counts as religious persecution? (The National Post)
Pornography:
- Yahoo’s search for profit leads to pornography | Yahoo Inc., struggling for profit amid a shaky dot-com marketplace, has become the first top-tier Internet company to embrace the porn industry, opening an online store stocked with thousands of hard-core DVDs and video tapes. (Los Angeles Times)
- Christians clear prostitutes’ cards from phone boxes | Theologian Mark Greene has begun a one-man crusade to rid the nation’s phone boxes of what he calls “pornography in a public space.” Now the Evangelical Alliance is backing him and calling for others to do the same (The Independent, London)
- Also: ‘Adopt’ a phone box to fight tart cards | Westminster council today appealed for residents to “adopt a phone box” and band together to tear down explicit prostitute cards. (The Daily Mail, London)
The Bible:
- Flora Biblia | Why is growing a garden of plants of the Bible such a difficult task? Bible translators were no botanists. Now, modern botanists debate what some of the plants really are. (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Also: Mislabeled in translation | Did Eve really offer Adam an apricot? A list of what modern botanists think some of the plants mentioned in the Bible really are. (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Where is it written? Right here | The Bible in English, two writers maintain, shaped the language, politics and culture of Britain and America. (The New York Times Book Review)
- Holy Shtick | A search for the historical Bible yields little; but the making of the King James Version is one of the greatest stories ever told. (New York)
Popular culture:
- Victorian Premier exorcises film ban | Victoria government says decision not to screen The Exorcist was inconsistent, inappropriate (The Australian)
- ‘Jesus’ and poor advertisement | During miniseries about Christ, ads for a razor for “revealing the Goddess in you” and abortion rights (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
- ‘Mister Rogers’ Ends Production, but Mr. Rogers Keeps Busy (The New York Times)
- Actor’s religious experience overcomes negative image | ’80s movie icon and recovering alcoholic Judge Reinhold tells church that fame and fortune couldn’t fill a godless life (Fort Worth Star Telegram)
- Amy Grant’s ‘Lead’ No. 1? You’re joking | Putting singer’s ’88 effort on top weakens list’s authority (Lexington Herald-Leader)
- Believers may find ‘new’ look surprising | BBC documentary on Jesus will air in U.S. on Easter Sunday on Discovery Channel (The Orlando Sentinel)
- Also: Jesus: The Complete Story (The Discovery Channel)
Other articles of interest:
- Croatian newspaper says 100,000 in Zagreb are possessed by the devil | Vecernji, which usually concentrates on politics, says the Catholic Church is desperately looking for exorcists. (Ananova)
- U.S. warns of rollover risk in vans | NHTSA slaps consumer advisory warning on vehicle popular among churches (Associated Press)
- Religious relic still stirs passion | Science debunks Shroud of Turin legend; believers are unimpressed (Arizona Daily Star)
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