Initial members of the council, who were named in February, opened a two-day meeting with White House officials on April 6. An additional nine members, who will round out the 25-member council, were announced April 6.
The overhaul of the office centers on an expanded mission to go beyond matching faith-based groups with government funds, advisory council members said in recent interviews. One of the biggest changes is asking religious leaders to help shape policy on a number of hot-button social issues, including abortion.
While some viewed the Bush administration’s efforts mostly as a one-way directive on how to expand the reach of faith-based groups, Obama’s unpaid advisers report more of a two-way dialogue. And the discussion centers on a broader array of issues that allows for more input from beyond the Beltway.
“The sense that you have is that there’s really somebody who is listening to what you have to say and will take it into consideration,” said one adviser, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, who oversees African Methodist Episcopal congregations in Tennessee and Kentucky.
The council is charged with helping shape policy in four areas: economic recovery, abortion reduction, interfaith dialogue, and responsible fatherhood. McKenzie, for example, plans to focus her work on the fatherhood program.
Other advisers said they were given a courtesy heads-up as Obama drafted his executive order permitting federal funding of stem cell research, or his nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services secretary. When some members expressed concern about proposed reductions in charitable deductions or rescinding conscience protections for healthcare workers, the White House responded with explanations, they said.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page, one of the advisers, said he has been surprised at the rapid pace of some policy decisions — many of which he has not agreed with — but believes his views were heard when he questioned the plan to rescind conscience protections for healthcare workers.
“I felt like there was some listening and some response in that particular issue,” he said.
Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA and another adviser, said it was helpful when faith-based director Joshua DuBois got on the phone and explained the administration’s position on charitable deductions.
Richard Stearns, president of the evangelical relief agency World Vision and a member of the advisory council, said the panel seems to have two roles: serving as “a council of elders” that can offer their expertise to the White House, and also representing their constituents to decision-makers.
Jim Wallis, leader of the anti-poverty group Sojourners and a panel adviser, said DuBois should be credited for communicating with people across a range of religious and ideological views.
“It’s serious, open discussion,” he said. “I think he’s getting high marks from people from all sides for reaching out.”
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and a member of the advisory council, said the revamped office intends to continue the Bush plans for equal access to federal funding for social service groups, but the outreach from the Obama White House is more substantive.
One aspect of the Bush office — partnering faith-based and community groups with federal funds — remains intact, but advisers stress they’re not making the decisions on who is or isn’t funded.
Monteiro, in his talk at Howard University’s Divinity School, stressed that the advisory council to the office is just that — advisory.
