Faith-Based Initiatives

Should the Obama Administration let faith-based programs
that receive government grants discriminate against
those they hire or serve?

Of course they should not. That is a violation of the values of this country and a violation of the faith of the Christian Church. These are not by definition religious programs; they are social service programs administered by faith groups. The goal of social programs is to create human wholeness, to remove barriers that prohibit wholeness. One cannot do that if those who are supposed to be directing these programs are themselves building barriers against the full humanity of anyone. This whole debate blows the cover on the idea that faith-based programs are delivering essential services and are not involved in proselytizing. Many Christians seem to have forgotten the Fourth Gospel's assertion that God so loved the world - not the church. The vocation of the church is not to convert the world, but to transform the world, so that every person in it has a better chance to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that he or she can be. That goal is always thwarted when we seek to impose our faith tradition on another.

By John Shelby Spong  |  February 10, 2009; 8:10 PM ET
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