Biden Restarts White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives

Source

The Hill writes:

The White House announced on Sunday that President Biden would be relaunching the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

“As our country grapples with a global pandemic, a severe economic downturn, the scourge of systemic racism, an escalating climate crisis and profound polarization, President Biden knows that civil society partnerships are essential to meeting such challenges,” the White House said in a release.

The office was established 20 years ago by former President George W. Bush, the White House noted, and continued on through the Obama administration. Former President Trump did not appoint a director to the faith-based office during his tenure and its website remained blank during the four years he was in the Oval Office. Trump instead created the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives, which served as the Health and Human Services Department's "liaison to the faith community and to grassroots organizations" and sought to "champion religious liberty in all HHS programs" according to its website.

Melissa Rogers will reassume the position she held in the Obama administration as executive director of the office and as senior director for faith and public policy as part of the White House Domestic Policy Council. White House Senior Adviser for Public Engagement John Dickson will serve as deputy director of the office. He previously served as national faith engagement director for the Biden campaign.

“At a time of great challenge and opportunity, the Biden-Harris administration is re-launching this bipartisan initiative,” the White House said. “The Partnerships Office’s initial work will include collaborating with civil society to: address the COVID-19 pandemic and boost economic recovery; combat systemic racism; increase opportunity and mobility for historically disadvantaged communities; and strengthen pluralism.” 

“That is not who we are. That is not what faith calls us to be. That is why I’m reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to work with leaders of different faiths and backgrounds who are the frontlines of their communities in crisis and who can help us heal, unite, and rebuild," he added.

What does that mean?

There is no way to know what that means. There can be multiple ways to see it. One is that it's a good way to start trying to tamp down the belief in the Christian Persecution myth by showing Christians that Biden and liberals are not trying to do evil things like forcing them to convert them to pedophilic cannibal atheists or turning them into lizard people via microchips in COVID vaccines. This is a chance to bring anti-Christian Nationalist Christians into more prominence. That would be a very good thing. 

I'm a rock solid atheist and intensely oppose mixing secular government with religion. But, right now most conservative Christians in America seem to believe that democrats and Biden are agents of Satan. Just look at the lies and hate gushing out of fascist radical right sources like Breitbart, Fox News, Gateway Pundit and the rest of the multitudes of vicious lying beasts the right has unleashed. If this is a means to try to dispel the toxic hold that decades of radical conservative dark free speech has on their minds, then maybe on balance this is a good thing. Maybe.

Of course, people can see this as much more bad than good precisely because it mixes secular government with religion. That is entirely possible. Maybe more likely than not.

I'm inclined to wait and see what, if anything, this will amount to. I'm willing to give Biden the benefit of a doubt. Of course, maybe people who know Biden and his religious beliefs better than I can articulate reasons why this is more detrimental than helpful.