One of the untold stories of the last 8 years is that of the forgotten religious left. For eight years Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and various other groups have worked hard to little or no ends. Instead the Bush Administration listened to the Christian Right alone.
While we can debate faith's role in the inauguration, where our attention should also lie is in how faith groups affect policy. Faith Groups are often the only advocates those at the margins of society have. Muslims calling for fairness in the Justice Department. The importance of faith-groups in advocacy for prisoners. The role of faith groups in bringing attention to the School of the Americas. And the list goes on...
The Obama people are moving to bring these folks into the fold like never before, according to Dan Gilgoff of US News and World Report. And no this isn't the political outreach strategy of the supposed Religious Industrial Complex (as Pastor Dan calls it), this effort seems to be recognizing that faith groups have specific - and often unique - expertise on a variety of issues.
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Director David Saperstein says:
"This is the most extensive outreach and listening tour that I've ever seen a new administration take, and that is certainly true of their outreach to the faith community," says Saperstein, who has worked with presidential transition teams going back to Jimmy Carter's. "It's quite remarkable."
And Gilgoff also writes of the Methodists Church
"There is the feeling that these are not perfunctory meetings but serious meetings with people in policymaking roles who know the process well," says James Winkler, general secretary of the public policy arm of the United Methodist Church, who says that he or his staff have attended nearly a dozen meetings with the Obama transition team so far. "This is not something meant to bring in the faith community to keep them happy but to solicit our views and ideas."
Winkler said that during George W. Bush's tenure, "we were never contacted by the administration" after an initial meeting with the White House Office of Public Liaison, which traditionally handles outreach to religious groups and other constituencies. Though Bush is a Methodist, a group of Methodist bishops was unsuccessful in repeated attempts to meet with the president in the run-up to the Iraq war, which the United Methodist Church opposed.
And, in case you were wondering -
Spokespeople for the social conservative advocacy group Family Research Council and for the Southern Baptist Convention—a huge, mostly conservative evangelical denomination—meanwhile, said that their organizations have not received invitations to meet with Obama's transition team.
Even Barry Lynn, who I often disagree with, seems to be somewhat on board.
"It doesn't bother me," Americans United for Separation of Church and State Executive Director Barry W. Lynn says of the Obama policy of having aides sit down frequently with religious groups. "It would only bother me if [Obama] starts implementing the policies of religious groups that are inconsistent with guarantees of the Constitution, and I haven't seen that yet."
I think the debate over the inauguration is an important one. But, in terms of policy affects, we can be quite thankful the transition team is making this broad and serious effort. I hope it is continued, with equality and the constitution in mind, into the administration.