Chuck Colson and Mike Huckabee Pan Obama Faith-Based Initiatives

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Evangelicals do not hate people different than they are. that is discrimination. I consider myself an evangelical and i have friends of every stripe, bisexuals, addicts, etc... Some Christians get so fired up about doing the "right" thing and following the law that they lose sight of what Jesus taught (ya know, love your neighbor as yourself, stuff like that?) look around before you jump to conclusions, the silent majority of americans are like this, but the squeaky wheels get the grease.

Chad Ball of ID 11:18AM March 04, 2009

The hate illustrated here, did not come from any Evandelical Christian, but from others criticizing Evangelical Christians, so I have to ask."Who is really teaching hate?"

Now, regarding the actual subject of the article. I agree with Colson and Huckabee about the results of Obama's plan, on the other hand I've had concerns about government meddling in matters of ministry all along, so I have never requested faith-based initiative funding. I accept a deduction for my mileage, and other expenses related to my ministry, but I am not in the same situation as many others. The single most effective agency working to reduce recidivism among offenders is Prison Fellowship. In state after state where they have started their two year program, the offenders who complete it have above a 90 percent chance of not re-offending. No secular or other religious program even comes close. It is not limited to Christians, but in teaching and doctrine it is decidedly Christian and to be exact evangelical. It basically would not work if they were expected to hire someone who did not share their faith values.

Locally another agency working with those who are HIV positive or have AIDS benefit from faith-based initiative funding. They are not especially evangelical, but secular agencies are not lining up to do what they do.

The fact is that government has recognized that many Christian organizations are doing what the government can not afford to do, faith-based initiative funding just makes it possible for those who volunteer to do more.

RDavis of MO 7:23PM March 03, 2009

I HOPE that Obama's administration makes the CHANGE that YES WE CAN make, and desperately need to make. That is to cut these proselytizers off from the public trough.

Colson and Huckabee have lots of rich friends who claim to be Christians. Let them appeal to those rich young men who turned and walked away from Jesus; surely they will be willing to assuage their guilt by funding the faith-based conservative Republican gospel. If they are not willing to fund their evangelism, it can't be that important to them.

I trust the administration will call them out and give them a chance to walk away. Then they can scream about being victims of constitutional government.

Asinus Gravis of TX 1:04PM March 03, 2009

GREAT - I hope that they do walk away from that money. For the past eight years Bush doled out $1.6 BILLION to TEACH ABSTINENCE. IF a church or so-called religious person cannot teach abstinence without our tax dollars, then they should lose their tax exempt status. I have always been a Christian but could never be an Evangelical --- they teach people to HATE people who are different from they. Most of them need to get in a closet and pray like JESUS said to do. Preaching HATE is not CHRISTIAN.

Jenny Hurley of TX 9:31AM March 03, 2009

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Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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