Ep. 572: Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives Needs To Go

As you can read elsewhere on MinistryWatch, the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is now 25 years old. Despite the good intentions of those who founded it, the office – like many government entities – has outlived its usefulness and needs to end. Resources mentioned in today’s program: David Kuo’s 2006 book Tempting Faith. 2001 Cato commentary “The Federalist Case Against Faith-Based Initiatives” by Robert Levy. 2001 Cato briefing paper “Corrupting Charity: Why Government Should Not Fund Faith-Based Charities” by Michael Tanner. Richard Land, longtime president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and now Executive Editor of The Christian Post expressed strong reservations, famously warning that government “shekels” would bring “government’s shackles.” Marvin Olasky, a key intellectual figure behind “compassionate conservatism” and an advisor to George W. Bush during his Texas governorship, played a role in conceptualizing the original Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, as early as 2002 began to have concerns about the office. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.