Obama treads fine line on church, state

By Eric Gorski - The Associated Press

President Barack Obama, signaling early in his administration that religion belongs in the public discourse, has promised to open a big tent to voices from across the spectrum of belief without crossing boundaries separating church and state.

The Democrat's inaugural pomp was steeped in prayer, and one of his first proclamations included a shout-out to "an awesome God." Last week, Obama used the platform of the National Prayer Breakfast to unveil a new-look White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that features a team of policy advisers from both religious and secular social service circles. Most are ideological allies, but not all.

Analysts say the first weeks of the Obama era show there's little question that both major political parties believe religion should be a significant factor in shaping policy. That's disappointing to those on the left who advocate strict church-state separation and unconvincing to Obama's religious critics on the right who believe the president will plow ahead with a liberal agenda regardless of who is advising him.

"There's clearly not going to be any kind of dropping off the cliff in terms of the importance of faith and politics," said David Domke, a University of Washington communications professor who studies religion and politics. "There was some sense (President George W.) Bush was going to be this high water mark -- or low water mark. With Obama, faith is going to have an important role, but with a much broader breadth to it."

Obama's retooling of the faith-based office, plagued in the Bush years by accusations that it was underfunded and too political, upset some Obama supporters who hoped it would go away.

Its executive director is Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old former Pentecostal pastor who headed religious outreach for Obama's Senate office and his presidential campaign.

"This is not a religious office or a religious administration," DuBois said in an interview. "We are going to try to find ways to work with faith-based and community organizations that are secular in nature, and don't cross the boundaries between church and state.

"We understand it is a fine line. But it's a line we're comfortable walking."

That will be tested in how the White House settles the contentious question of whether federal contracts should be awarded to religious groups that hire only members of their own faith. It's a Bush-era practice that candidate Obama signaled he would undo. The issue is to undergo a Justice Department review.

"In President Obama, you have somebody who is not only religiously knowledgeable, thoughtful, open and sensitive himself," said Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and a critic of the Bush faith-based office.

Saperstein, a member of the new advisory board, was among scores of faith leaders who met with Obama transition team members. The 25-member advisory council is to focus on the office's four priorities: enlisting faith and community groups in economic recovery efforts, reducing abortions, encouraging responsible fatherhood and improving interfaith relations, including in the Muslim world.

Of those, the most emotionally charged is abortion reduction, a cause that emerged during the campaign as a way for Democrats to woo religious voters without compromising on abortion rights.

Obama has made one significant -- and anticipated -- decision on abortion. On his fourth day in office, he quietly ended a ban on U.S. funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.

One of the advisory council's most conservative members, former Southern Baptist Convention president Frank Page, said he will continue to push for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

"I have to be a realist," Page said. "A lot of people like to paint everything in black and white. The truth is, we live in a world where the reality is that abortions are, in some ways, legal. That's the way it is right now. I certainly desire to see the reduction."