Olbermann: Obama Makes a Play for Evangelical Support

By Chris Nolan, AlterNet. Posted July 2, 2008.

Interview with Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

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Barry Lynn from Americans United discusses why Obama's promise to intensify faith-based initiatives is wrong-headed. Lynn argues that we should go back to the pre-Bush administration policy towards religious social services.

Before Bush, churches and other religious groups could compete for federal dollars on the same footing as any other groups. Many did. Bush changed the rules to let faith-based organizations discriminate against clients and staffers in ways that a publicly-funded secular service provider would never be allowed to do.

Bush's faith-based agenda isn't pro-faith or pro-charity, it's a sop to the most reactionary elements of the religious right. Mainline and progressive religious organizations don't need a license to discriminate. If Obama wanted to help liberal and mainline churches, he'd abolish the special rules for bigoted religious groups and let all social service providers compete on an equal footing again.

See more stories tagged with: olbermann, obama, church, lynn, state

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.

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As far as I understand [Report this comment] Posted by: Ryan on Jul 2, 2008 10:26 AM Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Obama is only giving tax money to faith-based organizations if irganizations do not discriminate and do not combine help and reach a the same time. In other words: it is going back to pre-Bush. Furthermore, there is the restrition that programs should provide evidence that they actually work (eg talking about God and christianity in prisons), a criteria many faith-based programs do not seem to meet. There is no mention anywhere that competition with other organizations that have been excluded from suppport from 2000 on (eg sex ed and ed on use of condoms) is not deal of the package. Obama appeared just to have said that there will be more money available but only if faithbased organizations that meet above -mentioned criteria. In my opinion Obama is pandering, but certainly pandering responsibly. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: As far as I understand Posted by: Quannah » RE: As far as I understand Posted by: Longdream he's not the only one [Report this comment] Posted by: Vik on Jul 3, 2008 5:37 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] And did you hear that McSwine was going to have a little tete-a-tete with that ignorant bigot, Franklin Graham? Little Frankie has said, over and over, that Muslims "don't worship the same God We do" (at least he's admitting that there's more than one). I do hope McSwine asks Little Frankie what he thinks of Catholics. I was changing channels a while ago and I stopped at whoremonger Jimmy Swaggart's retard son, Donnie, preaching (Donnie Swaggart is what one refers to as a "busted rubber baby"--he looks like he came into the world through a busted rubber; you know, ugly as sin, no chin, etc. Anyway, I watched a little while with the same kind of horrified fascination with which one watches an extremely ugly insect, or a huge pile of s--t. As he strode back and forth across the stage, he said that he really had a good comeback for any Muslim who points to Christians and the Crusades. He said that those who took part in the Crusades weren't Christians, they were CATHOLICS! Yee, gods, and there are idiots who actually listen to these wack jobs! [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Christians who don't proselytize [Report this comment] Posted by: Tara Downer on Jul 3, 2008 1:47 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Believe it or not, there are many quite liberal churches out there who do not believe in proselytizing. Instead, their missionaries do good deeds, believing that action speaks louder than words. They are often found in fields like "Doctors without Borders", or are digging latrines, or giving vaccinations. Most people don't know about them because they aren't trying to score points in the public arena, but if you look around you and find people whose caring and kindness seems beyond normal, you might have just found one of these rather existential Christians, Buddhists, Hindi, Muslims, or a host of other religiously inclined, but not fundamentalist, seeker for meaning in this cruel and unjust world. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: Christians who don't proselytize Posted by: Vik

» RE: As far as I understand Posted by: Quannah

» RE: As far as I understand Posted by: Longdream

» RE: Christians who don't proselytize Posted by: Vik

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» RE: Christians who don't proselytize Posted by: Vik