Faith-Based Initiative: "A Colossal Failure"
Rabbi Fred Guttman serves as rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Greensboro, N.C. and is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism's Commission on Social Action. All views expressed are his own.
The Faith-Based Initiative has been a colossal failure and has had very little effect on the partnerships between local social service agencies and Faith-Based Institutions. This has now been shown by research by some of the very best social science researchers in the United States, including our congregant Bob Wineberg.
Bob is trying to get this narrative "out there" because soon President-elect Barack Obama will have his plan out which keeps the core of the Bush plan minus the religious hiring controversial issues. He is pretty sure that Obama is taking his tips from David Kuo and John Dilulio - both are very bright but very misguided on what the reality is in communities.
The films below show findings extremely similar to his 1992-1994 findings in Greensboro, which were blown off when this march to the faith-based initiative was in full swing in the mid-'90s. Bob has watched, almost helplessly, as bright articulate people do the wrong things confidently. We are on the verge of doing it again and now, there is much more research, besides Bob's, that says Bush's Initiative had no impact on the indigenous partnerships in communities. It is like saying the earth is not flat and not the center of the universe and fighting against very powerful voices whose Christianity undergirds this whole push.
Here is the connection.
PART 1:
PART 2:
Here is the connection.
PART 1:
PART 2: