[Kmiec:] In campaigning for the presidency, Mr Obama refused to follow the opposition’s consistent ploy of using religious differences as a tool of division. To that end, the president would do well to take a page from the campaign and encourage the graduates to bring their faith into the public square, while being careful not to assume that their religion will always be given preference. 

This is an excellent message… of course we at the Matthew 25 Network believe that our faith should affect our politics. We think that things like working against poverty, opposing needless war, opposing torture, working to heal this nation’s racism and sexism, are moral issues as well as practical ones. At the same time, though, we have to recognize that we’re going into a public square where not everyone shares our religious values – and learn to talk about our political, ethical, and moral beliefs in terms that are accessible to people of any or no faith, not just for people who share our faith traditions.

Mr Obama also said he would look for the quality of empathy in his judicial selections.  The president, I believe, uses the term to convey that justices should be impartial, but not indifferent. Law and adjudication is not just a mental exercise in doctrinal neatness.  An Obama nominee should be capable of understanding the real-life consequences of judicial outcomes, especially for those who are least advantaged.  This is refreshingly attractive and informs Mr Obama’s desire to nominate justices with a broader life experience than one spent largely in a classroom or appellate courtroom.

I couldn’t agree more. While judges should follow the law, President Obama is right in pointing out that laws affect real people – that any judge who is ruling as if the law is some academic construct is missing a key part of the system.

The president of my dear alma mater Fuller Seminary, Richard Mouw, is fond of using this metaphor (originally coined by Japanese-American theologian Kosuke Koyama) about the way we look at God: do we worship a generous God or a stingy God? Is God looking to give, or to withhold?

At the risk of trivializing Drs. Mouw and Koyama’s brilliant observation – and let me be clear that by no means am I equating these things – I think we should look for a Supreme Court nominee who’s energized by seeing the same principle in interpreting the law. I think we should look for a jurist who looks at the grey areas in the law with an eye toward helping out the little guy, toward being compassionate to those who need compassion, toward bringing true justice – someone who sees the law as an opportunity for generosity rather than stinginess. That’s what I hope President Obama means when he talks about wanting a Supreme Court nominee with empathy.

Anyway, the rest of Dr. Kmiec’s interview is here… and Dr. Kmiec talks about the issues in a far more intelligent way than I can. It’s definitely worth a read.

Thanks to the Faith in Public Life newsroom for the link!

A communism-Antichrist link seems nuts today.  But only 20 years ago it was a fairly widely held opinion.

Sen. Brownback’s office is not surprisingly backing off of the statements and has asked that the group quit using his signature. Catholic Advocate, the group whose fundraising letter has set off the whole firestorm, is refusing to back down and claims the language was properly approved by the Senator’s office.

Faithful America and Catholics United are running a petition drive to ask Sen. Brownback to clarify his statements to those who have received the letter and for Catholic Advocate to donate the funds raised off of this letter to be given to charity. I encourage you all to sign it here.

UPDATE: Faithful America is reporting that 3000+ and counting have so far called for accountability from Sen. Brownback.

Those dollars largely came from the Prince family of Michigan who own Auto-Parts Manufacturing plants and Blackwater (now known as XE pronounced Zee). Blackwater, notably, was recently banned from Iraq for shooting civilians without cause.

Lay-offs are going to happen in this economy. But, lay-offs that didn’t need to happen is just sad. It is anything but supporting families. One wonders how those former employees feel about how Focus on the Family chose to use their dollars.

Outside of the conference, I read a very amusing and interesting retaliation to promoting this awareness.  Environmental Minister of Northern Ireland, Sammy Wilson, banned local broadcast ads on climate change.  He discredited the message as “insidious propaganda.” He argues that global patterns are naturally cooling, not warming.  He says too many people are under the impression that if they drive less, or turn off the standby light on their TV for instance, they are saving the world from melting glaciers. He pinpoints the climate change as “God-driven” and says “humanity should invest in coping with it,” as opposed to trying to slow down the problem

What if Wilson were to speak at CERAWeek. I would have to disagree with him.  He is writing off excuses for humanity; that we do not need to take responsibility for the condition of our planet. God-created, I believe so.  Intended for stripping our earth of nonrenewable resources so we can live more comfortably, quickly, glamorously?  For what ever purpose you burn fossil fuels, to that extent, I believe was not a part of the design.

The White House has just posted video of Thursday’s events and some of what they are doing on the Faith-Based front. You can get a sense of where Josh DuBois is taking the program. Exciting Stuff! Also exciting to have a White House that Youtubes.

White House Blog Post

Full Remarks Under The Fold -

Good morning.  I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers.  I’d also like to thank Tony Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from across the world.

Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this morning.  I know this breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in our family’s life, so we feel very much at home and look forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here.

It’s a tradition that I’m told actually began many years ago in the city of Seattle.  It was the height of the Great Depression, and most people found themselves out of work.  Many fell into poverty.  Some lost everything.

The leaders of the community did all that they could for those who were suffering in their midst.  And then they decided to do something more:  they prayed.  It didn’t matter what party or religious affiliation to which they belonged.  They simply gathered one morning as brothers and sisters to share a meal and talk with God.

These breakfasts soon sprouted up throughout Seattle, and quickly spread to cities and towns across America, eventually making their way to Washington.  A short time after President Eisenhower asked a group of Senators if he could join their prayer breakfast, it became a national event.  And today, as I see presidents and dignitaries here from every corner of the globe, it strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the world together in a moment of peace and goodwill.

I raise this history because far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another – as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance.  Wars have been waged.  Innocents have been slaughtered.  For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness.

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same.  We read from different texts.  We follow different edicts.  We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all.

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate.  There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being.  This much we know.

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together.  Jesus told us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The Torah commands, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.”  In Islam, there is a hadith that reads “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”  And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists.  It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging.  For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue.  Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds.  And that requires a living, breathing, active faith.  It requires us not only to believe, but to do – to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world.

In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us.  Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times.  This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I’m announcing later today.

The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another – or even religious groups over secular groups.  It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state.  This work is important, because whether it’s a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what’s happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations.  People trust them.  Communities rely on them.  And we will help them.

We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith.  I don’t expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish.  But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge.  In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding.

This is my hope.  This is my prayer.

I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have lived.

I was not raised in a particularly religious household.  I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known.  She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college.  It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to.  It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me.  It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.

In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation.  It is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today.  We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity.  As St. Augustine once said, “Pray as though everything depended on God.  Work as though everything depended on you.”

So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead.  For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God.  I ask you to join me in that effort, and I also ask that you pray for me, for my family, and for the continued perfection of our union.  Thank you.

He is president of Esperanza, which is the largest Hispanic faith-based network in the country, with a national network of 12,000 faith and community-based agencies.

I especially enjoyed the statement Rev. Luis Cortés released:

Esperanza provides and advocates for programs that support the least of these (Matthew 25:40) and I am encouraged by the bill’s passing. With the status of our nation’s economy and the loss of jobs, now more than ever we need to provide access to medical insurance for our youth. It was an honor to be present and to see the signing of the bill. I am praying that in the future I will also be able to witness the passing of a comprehensive immigration reform bill that will bring relief to millions.”

By Jerry Filteau, National Catholic Reporter

At a symposium Jan. 29 on Catholic social teaching and the new Obama administration, Catholic University of America history professor Leslie Woodcock Tentler challenged the recent declarations of some U.S. Catholic bishops who suggested it was sinful for Catholics to vote for Barack Obama.

The effect of episcopal statements focusing on legalized abortion as the nation’s overriding issue, she said, was to reduce U.S public perception of Catholic social teaching to what the church says about sex and to sever Catholic social teaching from the wider political discourse in the nation.

She said she is a lifelong Democrat who firmly believes that “our party is wrong on abortion,” but even if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is reversed, abortion will almost certainly remain legal in every state, as demonstrated by the successive 2006 and 2008 referendums in South Dakota, where voters twice defeated measures that would have made most abortions illegal.

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