Obama Works to Redefine Role of Faith in First 100 Days

The Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land has worked with presidential administrations going back to Ronald Reagan's, but he can't remember any that has convened an advisory council composedised mostly of religious leaders, as President Obama has done. The council gives religion "an institutionally higher profile than under President Bush," says the conservative Land, who directs public policy for the nation's largest evangelical denomination. "No president that I've dealt with has had anything like it."

Left-leaning advocacy groups agree, though they tend to be more troubled by a bigger role for religion in the White House. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, for example, is dismayed by how Obama's faith-based office has operated so far. "Bush's office completely disregarded the separation of church and state," says Executive Director Barry Lynn, "and nobody sees any change from that yet."

In his first 100 days in office, President Obama has sought a bold new role for faith in the White House, which aides say is aimed largely at dialing down the decades-old culture wars. Without changing his party's liberal stances on social issues like abortion, for example, Obama is nonetheless attempting to reach out to religious conservatives by pledging to work toward reducing demand for abortion. And while acknowledging his party's own secular base—he went out of his way to mention nonbelievers in his inaugural address—Obama has sought to showcase religion's expanded role in his White House, opening his rallies with public prayer.

So far, the project has blunted the Christian right's usual criticism of Democratic administrations, even earning plaudits from some high-profile religious conservatives. But it has also alienated some traditionally Democratic constituencies, from advocates for strict church-state separation to the gay rights movement.

Obama's most substantive move on religion so far has been launching his own version of Bush's faith-based initiative office, tasked with helping religious groups get federal dollars for social service projects for the needy. Less than one month into office, while presiding over two wars and a struggling economy, Obama took time to roll out his Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Its expanded mission includes reducing demand for abortion, promoting responsible fatherhood, and facilitating interfaith dialogue, particularly with the Muslim world.

But in a sign of how politically fraught the faith-based office is, the administration has delayed making the most contentious decision surrounding it: whether to allow religious groups to hire only fellow believers with federal funds, as they could under Bush. "This is the 800-pound gorilla," says Americans United's Lynn. Groups like Lynn's say they won't abide federally backed hiring discrimination. But should the administration force religious groups to hire outside their religious tradition with federal funds, "it's a nonstarter for evangelicals," says Land. "They just won't participate in any federal faith-based programs."

The White House's other big faith-based policy focus in Obama's first 100 days has been on developing a plan for reducing demand for abortion while avoiding new limits on abortion rights. The faith-based office recently began partnering with the White House Council on Women and Girls to find common ground between supporters and opponents of abortion rights by focusing on abortion reduction. "If these policies are enacted and the number of abortions actually declines, it would really help the president because he'd have a tangible result," says the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's John Green. "The pro-life community would have a much more positive view of the Democrats."

As it has worked to bring religious leaders and concerns into the policymaking process through regular conference calls and sit-down meetings, the administration has probably paid even closer attention to faith-based symbolism and messaging. Gay rights groups and liberals pressured Obama to rescind his inaugural invitation to evangelical pastor Rick Warren over his support for a gay marriage ban in California. Obama's refusal sent a clear message to evangelicals and other cultural conservatives that he respected their values.

But the move caused gay rights groups, who enthusiastically backed Obama during the election, to question whether he really respected them. Those doubts resurfaced when word leaked that the administration had invited former Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy, who endorsed a gay marriage ban in Indiana, to join its faith advisory council. After an outcry from liberal groups, Dungy declined the offer, citing scheduling conflicts with council meetings.

But Obama's faith-based stagecraft—in announcing he would lift federal limits on embryonic stem cell research by executive order, Obama said he was called "as a person of faith...to ease human suffering"—has helped him avoid the evangelical animus that plagued Bill Clinton in the second half of his administration and John Kerry in the 2004 election.

The administration's sensitivity on faith has also been evident in the types of messages it avoids. That includes its decision to put off rescinding the ban on federal funds to family planning groups abroad that support or offer abortion until after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade hads passed. President Clinton, by contrast, rescinded the ban on the Roe anniversary, the date of the annual March for Life in Washington. "This is a signal that the new administration is going to take a different approach and tone from the old culture wars," said a Democrat close to the administration.

Of course, such moves are purely symbolic. Many of the faithful are watching to see whether Obama will deliver on abortion reduction—and whether he can keep religious groups partnering with the federal government.

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