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President Barack Obama has named to the federal government’s faith-based initiative a gay-rights activist who, last month, described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as “discredited leaders” because of their opposition to same-sex marriage. Harry Knox, who is a newly appointed member of Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is the director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual activist group. In addition to his remarks about the Pope, Knox also criticized the Catholic Knights of Columbus as being “foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression” because of the Knights’...

President Barack Obama is filling out his advisory council on faith-based groups without appointing a well-known football coach, who was reportedly invited to the join the panel but drew fire from liberal groups for his opposition to gay marriage. On Monday, the White House said Obama named a diverse group of nine Americans to join the 16 designated when the board to advise his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Initiative was announced two months ago. However, former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy is not on the list the White House distributed Monday. Dungy’s potential appointment drew flak from liberal groups such...

The White House has invited recently retired NFL Coach Tony Dungy, whose outspoken Christian faith fueled his 2007 support for a gay marriage ban and has won accolades from evangelical leaders, to join its Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, U.S. News has learned. The invitation is likely to draw praise from conservative evangelical groups and criticism from liberals and gay rights activists. Dungy has long been active with evangelical Christian charities like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Prison Crusade Ministry, along with other nonprofit groups, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United Way. Leading the...

The economic stimulus bill enacted by President Obama will provide $1 billion to Jewish nursing homes and social service agencies, according to the United Jewish Communities. The funds come from the $87 billion that the legislation allots for state Medicaid programs as a result of an increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP. An increase in FMAP was a top priority for UJC, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and other Jewish groups that lobbied for passage of the $787 billion bill signed Tuesday by Obama. The federation system receives about...

By Derek H. Davis, J.D., Ph.D. Director, UMHB Center for Religious Liberty University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Belton, Texas WASHINGTON, DC - President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Thursday, February 5, to create the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The office replaces the controversial Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives that George W. Bush created to provide government grants to churches and other faith-based organizations to administer welfare programs. ”The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another–or even religious groups over secular groups,” Obama stated when announcing the new...

Saint John Coltrane Church? The Church of Scientology? Anton LaVey's Church of Satan? These and other religious organizations in California will be able to feast on that manna known as taxpayer money through the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships created by President Barack Obama. Making good on campaign promises to expand access to federal funds for "faith-based organizations" first started under former president George W. Bush, Obama told the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast that he will sign the executive order creating the office today.

So why am I pensive and nervous about this new Office of Fiath Based and neighborhood Initiatives? There are a number of reasons. I will address more of them in future articles. However, I will address the foundational difficulty I find in this Order now. The wording of this Executive Order says that the Office will look to "reduce the need for abortion." Every procured abortion is the intentional taking of innocent human life in the first home of the whole human race, the mothers womb. Every person alive today began their human life in that sanctuary of life. No...

http://i.usatoday.net/news/TheOval/Obama-prayer-breakfast-2-5-2009.pdf Read the lies, half-truths, and dripping hypocrisy.

President Obama will unveil a revamped office of Faith-Based Initiatives Thursday, and a new approach to the controversial program established by former President George Bush. The office, tasked with steering federal funds to charitable organizations tied to churches and faith-based organizations, will be headed by Josh DuBois – a 26 year-old Pentecostal minister who was in charge of religious outreach for the Obama campaign. According to a White House official, the basic structure of the office will remain the same as it was under Bush, but Obama is introducing a new component: an advisory council of 25 leaders — secular...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Thursday he will establish a White House office of faith-based initiatives that will show no favoritism to any religious group and adhere to the strict separation of church and state. Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama spoke of how faith has often been a divisive tool, responsible for war and prejudice. But, he said, "there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being," and all religions teach people to love and care for one another. That is the common ground...

Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama has compiled a new group of faith-based advisors who will comprise his new White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. However, unlike President Bush's group of religious advisors, Obama's includes abortion advocates.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has compiled a new group of faith-based advisors who will comprise his new White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. However, unlike President Bush's group of religious advisors, Obama's includes abortion advocates.The revamped White House office will direct federal funds to religious and neighborhood groups for social service projects.The members of the office will officially be announced on Thursday, but a preview of the some of the people who have been appointed shows Obama has included some abortion advocates.Joshua DuBois, a 26-year old political activist who headed up for the Obama...

CBNNews.com - CBN News has learned that President Obama will create a President's Council on Faith. The council will be announced at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast in Washington tomorrow. The President has not been shy talking about his faith. This new council will be made up of religious leaders across the ideaological spectrum. Their main task will be to provide public policy input on faith related issues ranging from healthcare to poverty. They will meet regularly and discuss their ideas with the President. The council will be part of an overall faith-based office. The President is also expected to lay...

With a president they view as more sympathetic to their causes, progressive religious activists are pushing the new Obama administration for aggressive action -- on poverty, the environment and social justice issues -- that would mark a significant shift in the faith agenda that dominated the Bush years. Many faith groups close to President George W. Bush focused on abortion, stem cell research and same-sex marriage. But now, liberal and centrist evangelicals and other activists say they are getting a voice and trying to turn the debate. "The last administration showed no interest in talking to a large chunk of...

Josh Dubois, the 26 year-old who ran religious outreach for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, has been tapped by the new president to head the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House aide tells ABC News. Dubois, who previously worked as an associate pastor for a small Pentecostal church in Massachusetts, was drawn to Obama in 2004 when he heard the future president tell the Democratic National Convention that, "We worship an awesome God in the Blue States." After hearing that line, DuBois tried to work on Obama's US Senate campaign but was rejected. Following Obama's...

The White House, in a report to be released Monday morning, will make a final argument that its office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has been redeemed from its politics-tainted past. The office, which President Bush created at the beginning of his administration, has been sullied by criticisms from a former agency head and a former staffer, who charged that the White House had used the office for political reasons. The report, titled "Innovations in Compassion," a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, argues that the president's effort to direct more federal funding to faith-based local groups...

(CNSNews.com) – Now that Barack Obama has been elected president, pro-life and pro-abortion groups are waiting to see if he will keep his campaign promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) into law and if faith-based hospitals and health care facilities will be forced to perform abortions or risk losing federal funding – a loss that could result in some health care providers closing their doors. “Well, the first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” Obama said at a July 17, 2007 meeting of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “That’s the first...

NEW YORK (CBS) ― City officials have ordered 22 New York churches to stop providing beds to homeless people. With temperatures well below freezing early Saturday, the churches must obey a city rule requiring faith-based shelters to be open at least five days a week -- or not at all. Arnold Cohen, president of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit that serves as a link with the city, said he had to tell the churches they no longer qualify. He said hundreds of people now won't have a place to sleep. The Department of Homeless Services said the city...

Important Conference Call That Will Detail the Crucial Reasons Why Seniors Business Leaders Those Who Care for National Security Catholic Americans Jewish Americans All Who Care for America’s Judeo Christian Values Should vote John McCain for President Two Conference Calls Will be Held: Tonight – Sun. Nov. 2 at 7:30 pm EST (remember that Standard Time started this morning) & Tomorrow night – Mon. Nov. 3 at 7:30 pm EST RSVP by emailing ypostelnik@insidersreview.org Topics to be Discussed Will Include: How Obama’s Capital Gains Tax Plan Would Hurt Seniors First and Foremost Why Obama’s Past Ties Can Influence Him, Why...

WASHINGTON -- Is there anything more that the administration can do to ignore the spirit of the U.S. Constitution before President Bush leaves office?The New York Times has revealed that a 2007 memorandum by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel claims that even federal programs subject to nondiscrimination laws can hand out taxpayer money to groups that discriminate in hiring staffers. The memo says the administration can bypass laws that bar giving taxpayer money to religious groups that hire only staff members who share their faith.It specifically applies to a $1.5 million grant to World Vision, which is...