Under God

By David Waters

Add government funding of faith-based programs to the list of Obama administration deficiencies identified by disaffected parties on the left and the right.

In recent days, religious leaders ranging from liberal Rev. Barry Lynn (Americans United for Separation of Church and State) to conservative Rev. Frank Page (Southern Baptist Convention) have expressed deep disappointment with the work of Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which was created to reform President George W. Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

If both religious progressives and conservatives are finding fault with Obama's faith-based inertia, the administration's faith-based initiative doesn't have a prayer.

By Michelle Boorstein

Is there a difference between "freedom of religion" and "freedom of worship"?

Some advocates for international religious freedom are monitoring what they fear is a change in the language being used by Obama administration officials - that the broad emphasis on spreading "freedom of religion" that the president used when he spoke in Cairo last June is being subtly replaced by the more limited concept of "freedom of worship."

I've not seen a formal study done of all the references by Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in the administration, but there's a movement growing among anxious advocates who say a trend is underway.

By Elizabeth Tenety

The United States Postal Service's decision to issue a 2010 stamp honoring Mother Teresa may seem harmless, but a closer look shows that the USPS may be in violation of its own guidelines.

Among the 12 guidelines on how and in whose honor to issue stamps, the Postal Service includes this regulation:

"Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs."

So why did the Postal Service decide to include the late Calcutta nun in its 2010 stamp program?

By David Waters

Did you see the pro-life Super Bowl ad featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother Pam? Were you amused? Annoyed? Confused? If you blinked you probably missed the 30-second spot that ran after the Saints very first three-and-out possession in the first quarter.

You didn't see the alternative version of the ad that Focus on the Family chose not to run. Ken Tucker, TV critic for Entertainment Weekly, wonders why FF chose the ad that was lighter, less effective and somewhat distracting (though funnier -- Tebow tackles his mother).

"Tim tackles Mom; well, not hilarious, but kind of sweet . . . and even more distracting from whatever serious message Focus on the Family may want to convey," Tucker wrote. "I think what we're seeing here is FF backing away from a more aggressive statement in order to get its spots on CBS' air. The result is classic bad advertising: The personalities on display distract from the message this deeply conservative organization wants to spread."

By Hamil R. Harris

On a Sunday when most houses of worship remained closed Rev. E. Gail
Anderson Holness, pastor of the Christ Our Redeemer AME in Washington, is thanking God following a very non-traditional service that was a success because of the
Internet and the telephone.

Holness, President of the Council of Churches for Greater Washington,
ordered a teleconference number long before the storm hit and then she
sent out an email and posted the information on Facebook.

"We had a global service," said Holness who was stunned when people dialed
in from cities across the US and several countries. "At one time we had
more than 100 people on the line."

Three Southern Baptist leaders sent a letter to President Obama Friday urging him to do everything he can to secure release of 10 volunteer missionaries jailed in Haiti on charges of child kidnapping.

"The continued detainment and possible conviction of these Baptist mission volunteers will distract the world's attention and undermine the relief efforts so desperately needed by the Haitian people," Morris Chapman, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, SBC president Johnny Hunt and former SBC president Frank Page wrote in the letter.

The 10 missionaries returned to jail Friday after a hearing. A judge scheduled three more days of hearings next week, starting Monday, defense attorney Edwin Coq told reporters.

By Michelle Boorstein

George W. Bush continues to be great fodder for Catholics -- and others -- trying to broaden the idea of "pro-life."

Bush is being honored today in southern California by a Catholic group called Legatus for his efforts as president to restrict abortions and funding for stem cell research. The group, which brings high-level Catholics from the business and religious worlds. Local media there report some protesters, including Catholics.

Two conservative evangelical leaders met Thursday with Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph to express their concern about ten American missionaries being detained in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country. Their attorney said Thursday that they had been charged with kidnapping.

In Washington, Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition and the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, met with Joseph and told him the missionaries were not kidnappers or traffickers. Mahoney has worked with members of the Central Valley Baptist Church of Idaho on past projects, he said.

"We call for the immediate release of the ten American Christian missionaries now under arrest and detained in Haiti," Mahoney said. "The purpose for their being in Haiti is now clear. They sacrificed their own security and comfort to help the needy children of Haiti after the devastating earthquake last month. It is obvious that these missionaries are not traffickers or kidnappers but simply caring Christians sharing the love of God in the most difficult of situations."

Read his full statement and a letter sent to Joseph.

By Michelle Boorstein

True, thousands of people trek each year to the Hilton Washington to attend the National Prayer Breakfast and hear the president speak, as he did this morning. But that's not the real story.

The real story takes place in the hotel's hallways, which were jammed all morning with one of the city's biggest schmooze sessions for those in the faith-based world. And I mean WORLD.

Korean missionaries. Diplomats from North Africa. Agents for religious publishers. Lobbyists. Think tank types. White House operatives. Pastors. Wanna-be pastors. The coffee shop looks more like a cocktail party, with everyone table-hopping, talking politics, foreign policy, food. While the event is officially non-partisan, it tends to be heavier on social conservatives, and a lot of people don't even go to the breakfast, but come even from out of town to parties and meetings scheduled for today or tomorrow to coincide with the breakfast.

By Michael A. Fletcher

President Obama bemoaned the "erosion of civility" in the nation's political debate Thursday, telling an audience at the National Prayer Breakfast that there is a growing sense that "something is broken" in Washington.

"Those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should," Obama said. "At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another; to have at once a serious and civil debate." spoke this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Read the full story and watch the video.

Read the complete speech.

By Anne E. Kornblut

When Obama appears at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday morning -- a regular presidential ritual -- it will mark the rare occasion when he puts religion in the foreground. In that appearance, he will discuss "the need for civility in the public square, and how Americans can work together in a spirit of goodwill," a senior administration official said.

Yet close advisers to the president said the role of faith, while subtle, has been noticeable in and around the Obama White House. One senior official described the president as "a prayerful guy." Another said that Obama has consulted religious leaders less often for his own personal guidance than for help walking through major public decisions -- such as during the Afghanistan review process, when he sought advice on the ethical implications of war.

Read the full story.