Pentacostal Josh DuBois for Faith Czar

Pentacostal Minister to Lead Obama Faith Office.

All of it is interesting, but I skipped ahead to this part:

The most contentious issue facing the Obama administration is whether to roll back a Bush administration policy that allowed religious groups that receive government money to take faith into account when make hiring decisions.

Obama indicated last July on the campaign trail that he disagreed with that stance.

“If you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help, and you can’t discriminate against them, or against the people you hire, on the basis of their religion,” Obama said in remarks on faith-based initiatives in Zainesville, Ohio.

The White House will approach this issue on a case-by-case basis for now. The executive order that the President will sign today will create a new mechanism for the director of the faith office to work through the White House Counsel’s office and seek guidance from the Attorney General on constitutionality issues, including religious hiring.

“On contentious issues like hiring, the President found that one of the problems with the previous Initiative was that tough questions were decided without appropriate consideration, data, and input from different sides. There were ideological decisions, instead of decisions based in fact,” a White House official said. “We think this is a key step forward. It doesn’t resolve all issues at the outset, but it does provide a mechanism to address difficult legal issues moving forward.”

Even better, from Obama’s remarks on the matter:

“Too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another – as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance,” Obama said. “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…
“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,” he said.

“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,” he said. “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.”