Author Donald Miller, who campaigned for President Obama, will be on a task force for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Miller became involved with the Obama campaign after he gave the benediction at the Democratic National Convention. He then traveled with the campaign to Christian colleges, including Calvin and Hope Colleges in Michigan. He writes about his new role with the office on his blog but doesn’t go into details.
I’ll be meeting with the CFBCI about twice a month, when I’m able to sit on on the conference call, and I’ll keep you informed of their progress. It all sounds really good to me and I’m honored to be one of the people they’ve asked for input. I assure you I’m a small fish on the phone. Perhaps the smallest.
When it comes to building communities that nurture the next generation, it’s hard to identify a universal standard for success. But as social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt looks at the trends among today’s children, he sees both common concerns and shared opportunities to address them.
On this episode of The Russell Moore Show, Haidt and Moore discuss the alarming rates of anxiety and depression among children and adolescents, which Haidt explores at length in his new book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Haidt and Moore consider the factors that lead to childhood mental health crises, including access to iPhones and social media. They talk about the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic affected (and didn’t affect) young people. And they look back on the last several decades of American history, during which parents have increasingly treated raising children like a school project or professional endeavor.
While much of their discussion outlines the challenges young people face today, Haidt and Moore’s conversation hinges on hope. They propose meaningful opportunities for cultivating good mental health, confidence, and a sense of purpose in children and adolescents. And they encourage all who are investing in the next generation with practical advice for healthy homes and communities.
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for the Rest of Us by Jean Twenge
High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children by Alison Gopnik
Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World by M. R. O’Connor
“What Is Attachment Theory?”
American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam
Do you have a question for Russell Moore? Send it to questions@russellmoore.com.
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Evangelicals on the office’s broader council include Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, Frank S. Page, president emeritus of the Southern Baptist Convention, Joel C. Hunter, pastor of Northland, a Church Distributed, and Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners.
Director of the office Joshua DuBois told me earlier this week that the rest of the members have been chosen and will be announced soon.
Miller anticipates heated questions and tries to answer them on his blog.
1. Why should government be involved in helping people at all? Shouldn’t the church do that?
A: Perhaps, but I don’t think so. We are running an enormous government deficit right now (we ran a surplus during the Clinton years, but counter to many Republicans, Bush increased the deficit enormously) and we do have to pare down our government spending (Obama has increased it further with the stimulus package) so an argument could be made that we don’t have the money to spend in the first place. However, if we did have the money, is it right?
I tend to see people as people and don’t really differentiate between the government and anybody else. If the government can help, why not. They are people and we are people. It’s not like they are robots. As for whether or not the work should be done by the church, it isn’t, so somebody has to do it. The church could solve all problems of poverty, and when it does, I think the government could go back to building roads and putting up stop signs. That said, though, it is difficult for me to imagine how the church is going to help provide healthcare. So if we are involved in the church and think the government shouldn’t be doing this work, the way to make them stop is to make the work go away by doing it ourselves.
2. Why would Barack Obama want to reduce abortions when he is a pro-choice President?
A: President Obama does believe abortion is a dark and tragic reality. He understands the desire for pro-life people to end abortion. As a pragmatist, and in order to reach out, and also to care for mothers who face the difficulty of an unwanted pregnancy, President Obama wants to understand the factors that lead to unintended pregnancy and help mothers keep their children. Studies show that economic well-being and health-care availability help a mother decide to keep her child. President Obama, in part through the CFBCI, wants to reduce abortions through the careful provision of these needs, creating a culture of life.
(As a side note, I asked the Office of Public Liaison whether the President intended to sign the Freedom of Choice act that he promised to sign during the campaign. This was a major battle-cry from the religious right. The OPL stated that there was no current movement on the bill and the President has not and will not sign it anytime soon. This does not mean he will not sign it in the future, only that the bill is not moving through congress at this time.)
That said, this is a complicated issue that, at least during the campaign, created more heat than light. Please use other blogs for sounding boards on this issue. Many pro-lifers tried to take over my blog during the election thus driving away open conversation. I’m sorry but that isn’t the purpose of this blog and I’d like to be able to use it to communicate information on a variety of subjects. You should also know I don’t believe we can create a utopia, and don’t believe we will have a perfect system of government until Jesus returns. Until then, we are only trying to make things better. Thanks so much for your understanding before you leave heated comments.
