The head of President Bush's faith-based office recently resigned. The national office of The Interfaith Alliance has called for closing the faith-based office. The national organization of Americans United has joined them.
The head of Oklahoma's faith-based office recently resigned. The leadership of the Oklahoma organization of The Interfaith Alliance wants to influence the selection of the next director of the office. Some leaders of the Oklahoma chapter of Americans United are willing to join them.
What's the difference? Politics. The nation has a president who is a republican. Oklahoma has a governor who is a democrat.
Party politics has nothing to do with my commitment to the First Amendment. I will stand firm for the principle of separation of church and state.
I say, close the faith-based offices. Both of them.
1 comment:
I think my friends in the Interfaith Alliance and Americans United in Oklahoma are negotiating with themselves.
They've concluded that the governor cannot afford to close the faith-based office because it would make him look hostile to religion. A former republican governor opened the office by fiat -- without benefit of legislation. In their minds, now it is a "done deal."
They think they can work to create policies, procedures and legislation that will make partnerships between religion and government fair to people of all faiths. All they need is the right director in the office. One with respect for religious pluralism. They plan to suggest some names to the governor.
The governor will then have to decide whether he wants to offend the dominionists and Christian nationalists in Oklahoma by appointing someone who uses an office of the government to promote the recognition and acceptance of minority faiths.
This is a governor who 1) wants to be re-elected 2) has faced concerted opposition from Southern Baptists because of his advocacy for legalizing a lottery 3) speaks at Shirley Dobson's "National Day of Prayer" and ignores the "Interfaith Day of Prayer and Reflection" and 4) only attends events in the Muslim community when they are advertised as "ethnic" events rather than "Islamic" events.
In my appraisal of the political realities, the best that could be hoped for is the appointment of someone who has respect for religious diversity. When you start from that position, you guarantee that politicians will work out a compromise between the competing positions of those seeking to influence the nomination. There is little chance that my friend's first choice for the appointment will be able to get through the process. They have negotiated that away before they even approach the governor.
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